Old Lady or Dead Lady
by MKAngelus
Summary: Tara and Lila are out of town, Clay and the rest of the sons are on a run upstate, Jax and Opie are left at the office with two babies and a dead old lady...
1. Chapter 1

**I'm giving an SOA story a shot...I usually stick to smutty fluff pieces about vampires or forensic anthropologists, but this has been naggin' me. If you like it, lemme know and I'll finish it off. **

**I don't own any of these fuckers, but I wish I did...MKAngelus**

"Fuck!"

Jax dropped the socket wrench and shook his knuckles; this was the second time he'd barked his knuckle trying to get the damn bolt loose. He was checking the skinned flesh when he heard a giggle behind him and then, "Fuck" repeated in a high pitched voice. Turning quickly he squashed a grin as he raised his eyebrows at Abel, "Hey dude, let's keep that between you and me okay? I don't need your mama hearing that come out of your mouth okay?"

Abel grinned at his dad; he was standing against the edge of the play pen, his blonde faux hawk drooping slightly in the heat, his Teller Morrow work shirt unbuttoned to show a SAMCRO tank top underneath. Ink aside, he was the spitting image of his father.

"Speaking of keeping things between the two of you, how about you explain what the hell that noise is on the radio?" The barely audible strains of top forty pop hits sung by 16 year old boys that sounded like 12 year old girls warbled from the grimy garage box.

Jax looked over towards the office and smiled at his friend, Opie. Putting his index finger against his lips he pointed over to the car seat in the shade where his other son, Wyatt was sleeping. His baby fine hair also in a miniature faux hawk, he was clutching a blue checked dog. Opie winked and nodded sarcastically, stepping closer to where Jax was now leaning on the motorcycle he was working on, they both lit cigarettes. "Sure man, the baby likes it, whatever works." He said, his eyes twinkling. Jax knew he'd never hear the end of it, having grown up with Harry 'Opie' Winston, he knew when it was best to just let him ride him until he got bored.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jax asked, trying to change the topic. "I thought you and the prospects were pulling those repos?"

"Yeah, I pawned it off on them. What the hell is the point in having prospects if you can't make them to all the fucking work once in a while?" He exhaled and continued, "I didn't know you'd be on bitch duty though, where's Neeta?"

"Neeta is visiting her nephew in Lodi, and since your old lady and mine are in Vegas right now, I had the choice of Gemma watching them or me. I decided that I'd give her the day off, its slow here, Clay and Tig and Bobby are upstate, things are quiet." He stopped and took a drag off his cigarette and looked towards the back of the garage, "For now anyway."

Opie was facing the bay door and stepped away from the motorcycle, dropping his cigarette onto the concrete floor, he said, "Well, things are about to get a whole lot louder my brother, look." Nodding towards the door, Jax turned around and saw someone he'd hoped he'd seen the last of. "Holy shit, what the fuck is she doing here?" He muttered under his breath.

"Dunno man, when was the last time you saw her?" The two men watched the slender blonde climb out of the cab of the extended cab pickup and make her way towards them.

"Fuck, when the little man was a couple of months old, I told her to get some time under her belt in fuckin' rehab and then we'd talk. Never heard from her again, and to be honest, never thought of her with all the rest of the shit that went down, between Ireland, Tara and Wyatt." He flicked the last of his cigarette out the door and grabbed a rag wrapping it around his hand as he walked out to greet her. "Keep an eye on the boys, would ya?" He tossed over his shoulder at Opie who nodded.

"Wendy." Jax said, his tone conveying wariness as well as confusion at seeing the woman who nearly killed his son and herself, and who he hadn't heard from in over two years.


	2. Chapter 2

**It's a little slow, I know. I just want a rich set up before all the shit goes down. Bear with it, or don't. As always though, be kind in your reviews and if you can't be kind, be honest. MKAngelus**

"Jax," she replied with hesitation as well as a small smile. He was still as handsome as he'd been when they met, a few years older, a few more scars, but those eyes and that body were still stone cold steel.

"Why are you here Wendy?" He asked absentmindedly noting that the garage door was sliding shut as they spoke.

"How have you been Jax?" She ignored him; she had something to say and wasn't going to be deterred. Coming here had seemed like a good idea and at one time she and Jax were able to communicate somewhat. Admittedly their relationship was mostly physical, but there were the few odd times when they'd connected elsewhere. Jax sighed and looked down at her; he could almost guess what was going on behind those heavily shadowed brown eyes. She was looking to reconnect and be a 'family', one thing about Wendy, give her an inch and she'd take a mile. He knew that she'd hung on to his recommendation that she gets sober and he'd think about it, he'd expected to see her crawling back long before now, however once he and Tara had heated up and then Abel's abduction and subsequent trip to Ireland to get him back and his own incarceration he'd completely blocked her from his mind. Concentrating on the club, his old lady and his sons more than his past.

"Fine Wendy, you?" Jax wasn't stupid and he wasn't going to make this any easier than it had to be. She needed to know the story and then be on her way.

She looked past him to see Opie coming out of the office door, a giggling toddler slung over his shoulder and a baby seat in one hand. A tiny fist waving in the air as he carried both of the kids towards the swings and slide that had been built in the corner of the lot. Additions had been made, now almost completely shaded and with a sand box that Abel was addicted to and spent most of his time playing in. Being the prince of a motorcycle club that was fronted by an auto repair business he was never far from a Hot Wheel, Tyco, or Tonka truck, plus hundreds of miniature motorcycles. She turned back to Jax and looked into his blue eyes to get herself centered and said, "I'm doing really well Jax. I've been sober for over a year, I've got a job and a place of my own, I've worked really hard. I volunteer at the rehab center for teens and I've started seeing someone." Her voice quieted slightly on the last bit, but she felt he needed to know.

"That's all great Wendy, I'm happy for you. What are you doing here?"

All at once she realized that he wasn't going to make this any easier for her, she should have called first, however the only phone number that she still had was the TM number and although she'd called it a couple of times out of rehab, she'd never been able to get through to him. He was never here according to whoever answered the phone. Which was true, he'd been in Stockton.

She plunged right in, "I'm here to see Abel."

"That's not gonna happen Wendy. He has a mother." Jax said his response flat and cold.

"I'm his mother Jax and I know what my rights are."

Jax barked out a short laugh, "Your rights? Your fuckin' rights?" he said incredulously, "Your rights to fuckin' kill him before he was born? Were those the rights you were talking about? Because I don't think they translate too much, he has a mom that isn't a junky whore who cares more about her high than her son. He doesn't need you, and you don't need to see him." He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, tossing the match to the ground and taking a deep drag before he exhaled he said, "You can go now, live your clean and sober life and don't worry about Abel, Tara and I have made sure he's safe so you can stop your 'mommy' complex and move on." He started to turn towards the play area, it was really too hot for Wyatt to be out there even though Opie was keeping him in the shade, he needed to be inside and since he was just fuckin' around here anyway, he might as well take them both home.

Wendy held herself in check, forcing the tears that threatened to spill over her lashes to hold off she replied, "Fine Jax, if you want to be an asshole and keep me from my son, you leave me no choice but to give you this." She reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of papers, reluctantly Jax took them and pawed through them.

"What the fuck Wendy? You think you can get custody of my fuckin' son? Are you out of your god damn junky mind?"

"I told you Jax, I'm clean and I've made progress and I'm still making progress and you and I never made any formal decisions, I don't care who you're banging now or how many other kids you have, I want to see my son and if you aren't going to let me, then the court will."

Jax was pissed; he'd had about all the courthouses he'd wanted to have in the last two years not to mention all the fuckin' drama he could handle. This would kill Tara, she had a lot to adjust to when he'd gone to jail, suddenly single and pregnant to boot, she'd been the one to bear all of the responsibility not to mention having Wyatt and now taking care of two babies. Gemma and Lila and Neeta had all helped, all the women of the club had pitched in when they could, and the boys were after all the princes of the club, their daddy being the next in line for the throne. But Tara had never given up and after all of this shit had gone down, he'd promised her that it was over. He was going to make changes that made sure that the boys wouldn't ever have to worry about their early starts in life. Now, Wendy making noise about court, he could just imagine how she was going to feel if she thought that Wendy had a snowball's chance in fucking hell of seeing that kid.

"Wendy, you bitch, you do what you have to do. You're not seeing Abel no matter what your papers or your damn lawyer says," Jax said crushing his cigarette under his boot, "Nothing you do will make me change my mind, now get the hell off of my property." He was holding onto his temper by a thread. Wendy glanced at the playground and Jax moved over to block her view, "Go on, go." He said tucking the papers into his back pocket; he'd give them to Rosen to see what all he could do to make sure they never even made it to court.

Sniffing slightly Wendy turned on her heel and made her way to the blue truck she'd arrived in. As she climbed in, Jax realized there was someone else in the truck. Someone else he'd recognized. He knew the guy, and the ink on his arm proclaimed exactly who he was involved with. Jax couldn't place his name though, although if he was a Nord, it wouldn't be hard to lean on Darby and get one. He watched until the truck pulled out the lot and then made his way to the play area.

"So brother, what the fuck?" Opie asked as he dumped sand out of a bucket into the Tonka truck Abel was pushing around. "Wendy wants to see Abel." Jax said in a dead voice.

"Well, she saw him right? So fuck her." Opie said a slight grin on his face, he knew that wasn't what Jax meant, but he was trying to lighten the air.

Grinning himself he answered, "Yeah, she saw him, but she wants to see him on a regular basis and according to this shit," he tossed him the paperwork, "She wants to see him alone, as in 'partial custody'."

Opie picked up the paperwork as Abel ran made noises, revving and zooming a small motorcycle over his shoulders as he read. He skimmed the papers and saw that it was a court summons for custody and that he had to respond before a certain date. While he looked them over, Jax unbuckled Wyatt and picked him up. He was a sturdy baby and although his hair was darker than Abel's, he was every bit a Teller clone. He grabbed his dad's nose and babbled incoherently, cooing and laughing as he pulled hair and patted his cheeks. Jax had never expected that he would be a father and couldn't imagine that he'd have two sons, but once they were here he couldn't imagine his life without them. He wasn't a pussy about them, still rode, still did all the same shit he always did, but he always had their safety and the safety of their mom first and foremost in his mind now, whereas before they only thing that mattered was his club. Abel came over and said, "Up Daddy." And held his arms up, Jax obliged him and held both his boys in his arms as Abel leaned his head against his own and sighed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Still creeping along...don't worry, by the end of chapter 3 the ah ha moment will hit and it'll start to speed up. If not, oh well, it's still gonna be a fun ass ride. I think. MKAngelus**

OLODL CH3

Opie looked up from the paperwork at his best friend and his sons. He'd seen Jax at the very worst in his life, and Jax had been there for his worst as well, he knew without thinking at all about it that he would take a bullet for this man and do whatever he needed, no questions asked. This was just a small bump in the road and Jax would come out on top, he always did. Sparing no thought for Wendy was easy, she was a junkie when they all met and Jax was looking for his place in the world, she wasn't the answer, but at the time she was all that he saw. Opie folded the paperwork back up and stood, he used his boot to scoot the toys back into the sand box and lit a cigarette, "Well man, let's shut this place down, I have to go get the kids from school, why don't you bring the boys over? There's no sense in you going home."

Jax shifted the boys in his arms as best he could, Wyatt was squirming around and Abel was half asleep so it was more challenging than it should have been he grinned up at Opie. "Sure, this place is dead anyway, I'll just go tell Chuck we're shuttin' it down and follow you." The two men and boys left the playground and Opie went over to the garage, telling Dog to knock it off for the day.

"Thanks Man!" Dog's gravelly voice echoed in the empty garage bay.

Opie nodded and locked up the office, grabbing Wyatt's bag and his own jacket. He headed over to the clubhouse after Jax.

"Chuck!" Jax hollered as he maneuvered into the door with the two boys still in his arms. "Hey Chuckie!"

"Jackson?" Chuck answered popping up from behind the bar where he'd been doing inventory. "What's up?"

"Hey man, we're pullin' out of here early today, we got no new orders and the prospects' are workin' the repos. Opie's shut down the garage; I just wanted to remind you to lock the gate after they drop the cars and leave."

Chuck nodded, "Alright man, you take care and I'll see you in the morning." Professional as much as a two fingered con could be Chuck was an invaluable asset to the club. Although not really part of the MC or of Teller Morrow he was still an important person to have around and Jax appreciated the little weirdo staying here.

"See ya man." Jax grabbed Abel's bag and shifted both the now sleeping boys again, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to open the door, Chuck came around and helped him, "Need any help getting them into the truck?" he asked.

"Nah, Ope's there. Thanks."

Chuck walked the man walk over to where his truck was parked and thought about how life sure take's some funny turns. He'd never expected to be a part of this group of people after the whole thing with Lin and his people had gone down, and he'd certainly never expected to feel like a part of something bigger than the MC, he felt like part of the family. He was there when Wyatt was born, well sort of, he's the one that called Gemma when Tara's water broke and the prospect had thrown up. Shutting the door, he went back into the cool air of the clubhouse to continue the inventory. There was going to be a big party when Clay and the others got back and he was in charge of making sure that no one went without.

Opie started his bike and drove through the gate, and Jax followed. Just as they turned out of the parking lot, Jax's phone rang. Looking down at the display he grinned, almost four hours, this was the longest she'd gone so far in not calling to check in.

"Hello Mom, the boys are fine." He answered, his eyes automatically flicking from one car seat in the rear to the other and then completely around his vehicle via mirror, totally aware of his surroundings. Yeah, he was a young father to two boys, he was also the VP of the Sons of Anarchy and leaving his compound wasn't always a walk in the park with members of various Charming gangs wishing to make their mark with their own clubs. He was a perfect target.

"Shithead." She said with a grin.

"Is that the reason you called? To call me a shithead?" He asked. His relationship with his mom was so different than many mother son dynamics. She was more than his mom, she was the queen of his MC; she was as restless as the tide and yet as strong as steel.

"I called to tell you that it was time for you to bring my grandsons' home, I'm sure you're tired of playing 'daddy', I'm making a roast, come home and eat and then leave my boys' with me." So matter of fact, he smiled around his cigarette.

"Not today Mom, I'm headin' over to Ope's, we're gonna hang out with the kids there, closed up the garage early, thanks for the offer, but save the roast for when the girls get back, we'll all come over then."

Shocked silence greeted him, "Are you in trouble Jax?" She asked as if he'd been speaking in code. He loved his sons' but had never offered to keep them this long and overnight without her help before. She wasn't sure how she liked this arrangement. He was a grown ass man and their father, but he wasn't ready for this in her opinion.

"No Mom, why do you think that? I want to hang out with my kids tonight. Believe it or not, you and Tara and Neeta aren't the only ones that can take care of them, I'm a big boy and I've got it covered. I'll call you tomorrow. K?"

Not ready to relinquish the reins quite yet she said, "Speaking of Tara have you heard from her?"

Jax rolled his eyes he was always going to be a kid as far as his mom was concerned. "Yeah, I talked to her this morning, the conference is almost over, sometime this afternoon in fact and then she and Lila will be heading back on Friday."

"Friday is two days away."

"Don't worry, Max and Rick know where they're staying and they've been to the clubhouse in Vegas before, Tara said that she and Lila are well protected and they're having a great time. She hasn't had any time since Wyatt was born to get away and she needed a couple of extra days after the conference to unwind, they'll be fine. Lila's got some friends there too, so I'm sure they'll be fine."

"I bet; they'll be pole dancing before the end of the night if Lila's friends are from her former profession." Gemma said skeptically.

Jax snorted into the phone, "Well, that'll just give us one more thing to enjoy in the bedroom. Good bye mom." He palmed the phone and dropped it onto the seat next to him.

"Little shit." She said into the dead phone as she lit her own cigarette.

Jax looked up again into the rearview mirror and then around as he pulled into the driveway next to Opie's Dodge pickup. The two of them each grabbed a kid and went inside, neither of them noticing the blue pickup cruise slowly by in front of the house before making its way to the end of the block. Opie left and went to pick up the other three kids from school and told Jax to order some take out.

Wendy looked at the two men as they took the boys into the house, turning to the man driving the truck she said, "Maybe I shouldn't have tried this. Jax isn't going to let me see Abel without a fight, I don't know if I'm strong enough."

The man looked over at her, "Don't worry babe, you've got all the rights and I ain't afraid of Jackson Teller. He may think he walks on water, but he doesn't. None of those MC pussies do. Come on; let's go to the 'Dog."

The two of them got out of the truck outside of the Hair of The Dog bar where most of her old acquaintances still hung out. Although clean she wasn't able to make the complete break from this group. Walking into the dimly lit bar she made out a few of the guys and girls, one in particular. A new old lady to the group, Ima had impressed less with her brains and more with her skill and eagerness to use it. Wendy thought she was just another piece of cheap ass but the Nords had taken a real shine to her. Wendy made her way to a table across from the pool table and Ima came to join her.

"So, how'd it go?" She asked, taking a hit from a joint and a drink from her beer as she sat. "How did Jax look?"

Ima had set her sights on Jax herself and thought that after the night they'd spent together it wouldn't be long before she'd be on the pedestal next to him, but he'd gone crawling back to that goody goody doctor bitch he was hung up on. Then she'd gone and had a baby. That was something Ima was so not gonna do, she just wanted to be at the top, her rightful place.

"I had to give him the papers, so now I guess we just wait." Wendy said morosely wondering how her life had come to this.

"That's crap, why don't you just go over to his house and make him show you the kid; I mean he's your kid right?" Ima said, not really caring one way or the other.

"Yeah, he's my kid, but I can't just go make Jax let me see him. He's got a hell of a lot of muscle behind him for one thing and for another I don't want to see Abel get hurt. I know I've done a lot of terrible things to him, but he doesn't need any more in his life." She'd been filled in by her man and Ima about the Ireland trip, and some of it was almost true. She'd never fully understood just how much danger Abel had been in of never coming home.

"I say you just go wait until you see him at the park or something, when that black bitch has her back turned dealing with the other one and grab him." Ima said, more than halfway drunk. By now, Wendy had started on her own beer. Quitting the heroin was one thing; she wasn't a fuckin' saint after all. "Yeah, I just walk up and pick him up? That's how I'll die. Gemma will gut me and leave me to die on the ground if I tried something like that."

"Fuck Gemma, I know how to make sure she never knows and she'll never be able to stop you." Ima slurred. Wendy looked over at her, how had this porn bimbo gotten to the point where she was talking about knocking off the queen of the Son's? "Really, you think you have what it takes to take out Gemma?"

"Her and that doctor bitch too." Ima said and smiled, she tapped her glass on Wendy's and leaned over, "Listen here, we'll get your son and hell, maybe Jax too."


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm not a lawyer but I watch a lot of law shows so even if all the shit I made up about California's custody laws is BS it was made up w/good intentions. This one is turning into a little bit bigger than I expected, if you're familiar w/my stuff, I don't do a lot of short & sweets so if you're riding bitch, hold on tight this is starting to come together. MKAngelus**

OLODL CH4

"Well Jackson, I can understand your concerns," Ally said, "But really, California is very pro 'mother' in these cases and given your history versus her history, she might actually have a chance at partial visitation. She didn't sign over her rights and as far as Tara is concerned, she's just your girlfriend, she's not a legal guardian to Abel. Wyatt, yes she has full control of him as do you, but with Abel, it's unfortunately in the eyes of the law between you and Wendy."

Jax swore into the phone and took a long drag off of his cigarette, exhaling as he looked over at Abel playing with Kenny and Ellie and Piper in the backyard at Opie's house. He'd woken up early with Wyatt and had gotten him fed and changed just in time for his mid morning nap and then Abel had woken up and Kenny and Ellie weren't far behind, they'd gotten ready for school and we're just waiting for their dad to take them. Deciding he'd try to go the 'legal' route before anything else, he called Rosen's office and figured that Ally would be a better contact than Rose. "So what, if I say no to her demands then we go to court right?"

Ally sighed, she liked the outlaw bikers, they were actually pretty good guys, just on the wrong side of the law. "Jax, I'm not a family lawyer, so I'm not really a hundred percent sure what could happen. The judge could decide that the environment that Abel is in isn't stable, he could pull into question all the known illegal associations that you and the rest of the club have, not to mention your recent stint at Stockton. Of course, he could also question Wendy's past just as easily, I'm sure that Abel's birth problems and her drug habit will be called into review. This isn't going to be an easy fight." She started to say something else and Jax cut her off.

"I don't care if it's an easy fight; she's not going to see him. I'll do whatever and I mean WHATEVER I have to do to stop her from seeing my son, this will kill Tara and don't even get me started on what Gemma will have to say about it."

Grinning Ally rolled her eyes, of all the people that she didn't want to get on the warpath Gemma was at the top of the list. "Okay Jax, here's what we have in the plus column for us," she paused and pulled a pad of paper over to write down what she was saying as she spoke, "Tara. She's going to be our strongest factor in this, she's a respected pediatric surgeon at St. Thomas, and she's never really been in trouble with the law, aside from some minor juvenile stuff which won't be called into question. Given her kidnapping and that of her boss, she might garner some sentimental sway. She's a homeowner, pays her taxes and aside from her being the girlfriend of the second most powerful man in the largest motorcycle club on the west coast, she's a pretty upstanding citizen."

Jax grinned, she wasn't all that far from the truth concerning Tara. She was most definitely the most out of place 'Old Lady' that he'd ever heard of, aside from his own mother, who was the wife of _the_ _most _powerful man. "Okay, what else?" He asked.

"We also have a strong support system in place, Abel has a steady nanny in Neeta, who is a well respected local nanny, she goes to church, and she volunteers at the mission, an established regular good citizen in Charming. So that's another good thing, now some good but not great things, Abel also has Gemma in his life, so he's not wanting for supervision. Granted, she's had her fair share of judicial tie-ins lately, but the general consensus on Gemma is that she's a good person. She donates a lot of time and money to local charities and organizations, she puts on the carnival and fireworks every year for the school so on paper your mom is also a good person to have on our side. However," she paused again, "the judge isn't going to take into account what is on paper as his sole persuasion on this Jax. Your entire family was involved with not only the local Charming police department, and the FBI as well as the goddamn ATF, you've been incarcerated twice in the last three years, your mom was accused of not one but two murders and your girlfriend was dating an ATF officer who has yet to make an appearance."

Jackson grimaced; Kohn was never going to be making an appearance. He couldn't believe the piss poor direction this was taking, he'd thought that once he got out and the club stayed clean for a couple of month's things would start to roll smooth. "So, what's the negative look like?" He asked afraid of the answer.

"His god father's wife was brutally murdered in a drive by shooting; his grandfather is a known criminal with associations with other known criminals. You have the same known associations and are still on parole."

"But Ally, I've been employed at TM since I was 14 years old, I'm also a homeowner and I've never been involved with drugs or alcohol. I also donate my time and money to local endeavors and I've never been caught or implicated in anything other than some trumped up weapons charges, I've done my time. My family has been in Charming my whole life and the Sons do a lot of good here. Wendy is a fuckin' drug addict and she almost killed him before he was born!"

She sighed again, "I know that Jax, and that's going to be the best thing that we have going for us, I'll argue that she's relapsed time and time again, there's no guarantee that she'll stay clean this time and she still associates with known drug dealers and users. But Jax, that's all I've got."

He sighed himself and lit another cigarette, "Alright, do what you can, send me the bill and I guess we'll see you in court. I'm not letting her get my son though, one way or the other."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that Jackson, and I don't care what you do, in the next two weeks you better keep yourself squeaky clean and that goes for all the guys you hang around with. Got it?"

"Got it counselor." He hung up and looked over at Opie who'd come out to watch the kids. "What did she say?"

"She said I have a snowball's chance in hell of blocking her bid for visitation because this fucking state is pro 'mom' and apparently even if the mom in question is a fucking junky she still gets to see her kid."

Opie watched his brother and thought for a few minutes. "Well then I guess we just have to make this all go away." He lit his cigarette and called over to the kids, "Come on guys, time for school tell Abel goodbye. I'll meet you at the club brother." Opie escorted his kids to the truck to take them to school. Jax walked over to where Abel was standing by the small slide in the backyard. He was looking after the kids and said to his dad, "Where they go?"

Jax picked his son up and swung him high above his head, giggling Abel threw back his head and grinned, his blonde hair flopping on his head, kicking his feet he squirmed to get put down as Jax said, "They went to school buddy, someday you can go to school too. For now though, let's get you ready for work."

"Fuck" Abel said morosely, holding his hand up to his dad. His dad's eyes were huge as he bit the inside of his cheek. "Hey buddy, we talked about that word, that's a daddy word not an Abel word, remember? Mom will be really mad at daddy if you say that okay?" he looked down at his son, the past two years flashing through his mind instantly, he smiled at him and bent down to look him in the eye, "Ready for work bud?"

Abel looked up and smiled, "Okay daddy, Wyatt's crywin again, dumb baby." He dropped his dad's hand and ran towards the house, "I'll get him daddy." Jax grinned and said, "Okay bud, let's get him together." Walking into the house he wondered whether he should call Gemma and see if they could hang out with her, but then when he saw Abel peering into the playpen where Wyatt was he heard him say, "Stop cwyin Wyatt daddy's coming." He decided that he'd made it through the day before without any problems, so how hard could it be today?


	5. Chapter 5

**The dumb bitch just won't die yet, so had to write some more filler. Think I'm back on track now & have a plan that will work. Thanks for stickin' with it. MKAngelus...**

OLODL CH5

Just as Jax pulled into the garage and was maneuvering into a parking spot, his phone rang, ordinarily not a big deal except that it was also the exact same moment that Wyatt chose to blow up his diaper and Abel dropped his juice box and it splashed on him. Both boys began crying as Jax said, "Yeah?"

"Sounds like you've got your hands full Jackson, how about I come over and take the boys for the day, you can get them tomorrow when Tara gets home?" His mom was smiling, listening to the chaos on the other side of the phone and she figured that her son was going to jump at the offer.

"No, I'm good mom, we've got this all figured out, tell you what, swing by for lunch if you need to see the boys that bad, okay?" He had the phone in one hand and had unlatched Abel's seat, and Abel had slithered out of the seat and was standing on the back seat happily splashing in the juice from his now mostly empty juice box.

Exasperated Gemma said, "Jax, you know you can be the most stubborn shit on this planet, why are you doing this to me? I want to see my grandsons!"

Jax grabbed Abel around the waist and sat him down, unlatching Wyatt's car seat and setting it down on the ground outside of the cab of the truck as he shifted the phone to his other ear and grabbed both of the boys' bags. Watching him he looked like an old pro and his mom would be proud if she wasn't so pissed off. "Mom, I'm not being stubborn, I'm being a father. Thank you for your help, I appreciate it. Now quit harping on me and let me be a father. I'll see you at noon." He hung up the phone and turned to Abel, "Grab my hand buddy, we're going to the clubhouse." The three of them started across the short stretch and Abel held his hand almost the whole way until Chuckie poked his head out of the door and said, "Hey Abel how's it hanging little man?" He held his fist out, or what was left of it for Abel to bump. "Chuckie! Hi!" Abel said, a grin lighting his face. Chuckie was one of his favorite babysitters. Talking a mile a minute and forgetting all about his old man he and Chuck were lost to the world as they entered the clubhouse. Jax grinned and set Wyatt down on the pool table.

"Whoa brother, what the hell did you feed that kid?" Opie said strolling in from the apartment in the back.

"I just gave him the bottle that Tara left for him, I have no idea what the hell is in it. It smells nuclear whatever it is."

The two of them shared a grin and then Jax began to change his son's diaper. He couldn't help but think how this was completely out of character for him but how nice it was to actually be doing it. Opie waited until he was done and then said, "So, I talked to a friend of mine and he said that Wendy has been hanging out at the Dog and get this your little piece of porn pussy Ima is also a regular there."

Jax snorted, Ima was a tragic mistake in a long list of mistakes he'd made with his old lady, one he never wanted to revisit or repeat. "Ima? Is she servicing the Nords now?"

"According to Rat she's an old lady, and he says that she and Wendy have been pretty chummy lately." Opie paused to light a smoke, "So I was thinking that you and I could make a run by the Dog and see what we can see. Maybe set a prospect out on point?" He exhaled and grabbed the used diaper and tossed it into the can by the door. Jax took his time gathering up his son's stuff and thought about what Opie had said; a year ago he'd be locked and loaded ready to take care of this thing once and for all. Now he had to stop and make himself think of what to do next, he had two babies to take care of, not to mention his old lady and club.

"Man I don't need to go over there, send a prospect but I'm going to handle this with Rosen first, or at least try to. I can't afford to get into anything right now, I just got out and Tara will cut off my balls if I do anything with the boys."

"Leave the kids with Chuckie, we'll be back in an hour tops." Opie said.

"Nah, I want to hear what Ally finds out first, and then we'll decide what to do from there." He had put Wyatt's things in the small refrigerator and grabbing his diaper bag shouted out to Chuck, "Chuck! I'm taking little man to the garage, keep an eye on Abel?"

"Sure thing Jax!" He yelled back, he and Abel were currently folding towels in the small laundry room behind the kitchen.

"Bye Daddy!" Abel yelled, earning another small smile from his dad. "Be good Abel!"

Opie, Jax and Wyatt made their way to the garage and Opie pulled open the door to the office and after putting Wyatt into the play pen they each got to work on separate cars. The hours went by and aside from general chit chat and the occasional peek on the baby they worked in silent harmony. Just past noon a black Escalade pulled into the lot. Stepping out of the car Gemma stormed over to where Jax was standing holding Wyatt, "Say hi to grandma Wy," he said with a grin around his cigarette.

"Gimme that baby you shit head." She said in mock fury as she held her hands out to her grandson. Cooing and making faces at him she completely ignored the sarcastic smile Jax gave her as he handed his son over. "Where's Abel?" She asked making her way to the clubhouse.

"Last time I saw him he was talking Chuckie's ear off in the laundry room." He said as Opie sidled up beside him.

"Great, like that little freak needs to lose any more body parts." She muttered over her shoulder. Laughing the two of them threw their smokes down and Jax said, "Ope, let's take a ride."

Opie's eyebrow rose and he nodded, pulling on his cut he made his way to his bike, "Mom, we'll be back soon." Jax said, grabbing his own cut and pulling it over his TM shirt. She didn't even acknowledge him, lost in her grandson, he'd ceased to exist.

The two men pulled out of the lot, the loud pipes echoing off of the buildings as they made their way through Charming. Opie knew they were probably heading to the Dog, so wasn't surprised when they ended up there. Parking in front of the run down bar, they walked in and were blasted by the cold, artificial air and assaulted by the odor of smoke and unwashed bodies. Their eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room slowly, but even so, Jax was able to spot Wendy sitting by herself in a back booth.

He walked across the bar to the silence of everyone in there. Opie shadowing him like a second skin, they were both feared and loathed. Neither of them could give a shit less. Jax sat down next to Wendy and Opie sat across from her without saying a word. She didn't realize it until it was too late that she was blocked in.

"Hiya Wendy." Jax said, taking a drink from the beer in front of her. "Thought you were clean?" He said tipping the mug towards her.

"I am clean Jax, I haven't had a hit in almost a year, I don't drink very much, this is the first beer I've had all day."

"Wow, all day, its noon Wendy. 'All day' has been the three hours that this shit hole has been open." He took another drink and Opie shook out a smoke and handed it to him, lighting his own. "If you had Abel would you have made it three hours?"

"I wouldn't drink if I had my son." She said sullenly.

"He's not your son Wendy; the sooner you remember that the sooner we can put all this behind us. He's my son and he's Tara's son. He's nothing to you." Jax exhaled and leaned back, putting his arm around her he kicked his legs out under the booth and continued, "So, let's put all of our cards on the table, you like cards if I remember right, what's it going to take to get this stupid idea of custody out of your head?"

Wendy looked around the room, she knew everyone in here, but not one of them would give a shit if Jax put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger and she knew that trying to get one of them involved would be the wrong idea, her boyfriend wasn't there and although he talked a lot of shit, face to face with any member of the sons' including the prospects and he'd turn tail. She took a deep breath and lit her own cigarette, "I don't want anything other than to see Abel Jax. That's all I want. If you won't let me see him then I'll see you in court, you're not scaring me." She tried to keep the quiver out her voice, but he picked up on it.

"I'm not? You sure sound scared darlin'. If you're determined to take this thing all the way to court, then that's what we'll do. Just keep in mind that two weeks is a real long time, anything can happen." He drained the rest of her beer and stood up, slamming the mug down on the table he repeated, "Anything." Opie slid out of the booth and the two of them began to make their way out when Ima appeared and stepped in front of Jax.

"Hello Jax." She purred, tracing her finger down his chest. "It's been a long time since I saw you." She smiled up at him, licking her bottom lip for emphasis.

"It hasn't been long enough for me Ima." He said with no emotion as he stepped around her. Indignant at his snub, she yelled after him, "That's right, go home to your nice tame doctor pussy, we don't need you around here!"

Jax stopped one hand on the door, turning towards where Ima and Wendy were both standing, he said, "Ima, you may have seen God when we were together, but I was just driving down a well traveled highway." He grinned and said, "Good afternoon, ladies."

"Ladies?" Opie laughed as they left the bar, "Nice one Jax, now you've stirred them up, now what brother?" he asked, settling onto his bike. Jax mounted his bike and picked up his helmet, "I don't know man; I wasn't thinking before I came here, I have no idea what I'm doing."

Shaking his head Opie said, "Well, let's hope they don't do something stupid."

"Maybe they will and we won't have to go to court?" Jax said with a smile.

"Stranger things have happened." Opie said, "Come on brother, let's hit Lins on me and then back to the garage, let Gemma have some time with the kids before she explodes." Jax agreed and they took off. Neither one of them saw Wendy pull out behind them in the blue truck, Ima in the passenger seat.

After their lunch they headed back to the garage to relieve Gemma. "Okay Mom, you've had time with the boys. I'll bring them over tomorrow night when Tara gets home and you can see them again, okay?" Jax said as he entered the clubhouse to see both boys sound asleep in the play pen and Gemma guarding them like a mama bear.

"Oh come on Jax, you can stop all this macho crap, I'll watch them." She said, barely looking up from where her perch.

Jax walked over and knelt in front of his mom, pushing her hair back on her forehead he leaned up and kissed her cheek. "Mom, please. I've got them, okay?" She took off her glasses and looked into her son's eyes. Seeing his resolve she relented. "Okay Jax. I'm going to run some errands and then go home. I've got some shit to move around in the spare room, so when those worthless prospects get here, send them to the house okay?"

Jax saluted her and stood up, hugging her tight he whispered, "Thanks mom." She hugged him back and then left the club. Throughout the rest of the day Jax and Opie alternated between working on cars to playing with the boys, relieving Chuck and between the three of them they were able to make the rest of the day uneventful. Leaving that night, Jax reminded Chuck to lock the gates again. However, as loyal as he was, Chuck sometimes forgot simple things, so Jax's reminder was forgotten. That little lapse was just enough to allow the blue truck to pull in. That's when things went south quickly.


	6. Chapter 6

**I wanted to add a little bit more tension for Jax in this chapter. I think its a little lighter than the show perhaps, but necessary. Of course what the fuck do I know? MKAngelus**

OLODL CH6

"'Lo?" Jax grunted into the phone, turning slightly to look at the clock. He could blearily see that the blue numbers were displaying 4:30 AM. Rubbing his eyes with his heel he sat up slightly, the sheet dropping down his taut stomach to his hips.

"Jax?" The voice on the other end said in a whisper.

"Who the fuck is this and what the fuck do you want?" He asked more awake than at first, but still trying to throw off the blanket of sleep he'd been covered with.

"Jax, its Chuckie, I think you need to come to the garage."

"Now?" He asked.

"Yes, now, I think…"

He interrupted Chuckie to say, "What's going on Chuck? Is someone there?" He sat up completely and slid his legs over to the side of the bed and yawned.

"Jax, I can't explain it over the phone, just get here as quick as you can."

"Dude-I've got the kids, I can't fucking come there _as quick as I can_, is there something wrong or not?" He was irritated and at the same time concerned, he was the one responsible whenever Clay was away and Chuckie wasn't really all that prone to calling for assistance unless it was something important, on the other hand, he had both boys and no one else there to watch them and unless he wanted to split his balls between the purses of his mom and his old lady he'd have to figure out something to do with both kids. He'd been a member of the MC his whole life, but even he knew you can't talk rationally to a mother about some things, and leaving his kids home alone while he went to put out a fire at the clubhouse was one way to guarantee that he'd walk funny for the rest of his life.

"Jax, something happened, I- I- I really don't know what happened to be honest, but I know that there is no way I can explain it over the phone. This is something you have to see."

"Alright man," He sighed, wiping his face with the palm of his hand and running it through his sleep tousled hair. "Let me get someone to watch the kids, I'll be there as soon as I can." He closed the phone and dropped it on the bed. Stepping over to the pile of clothes on the floor, he pulled his jeans over his naked hips and checked to make sure the knife was still in its scabbard, he grabbed his tee shirt and pulled it over his head. After putting on his shoes, he grabbed his phone and made his way to the kitchen where he picked up both Abel's bag and Wyatt's with the intent of putting them in the truck. Shaking his head abruptly, he put them down and dialed a number.

"Who the fuck?" Opie said sleepily into the other end.

"Dude, problem at the garage, Chuck just called, can I bring the kids over there so I can check it out?" He decided to call Opie rather than his mom, simply because he didn't want to wake her up and explain everything. Opie knew what it was like to get these late night; well in this case early morning calls and would be better able to handle the intrusion.

Opie came awake a lot quicker than Jackson did and said without a trace of sleep in his voice, "What do you mean problem at the garage? You're not going there alone Brother, I'll meet you there."

"Wait, hold on, I've got the kids and so do you, you can't just leave them alone and neither can I, I don't think it's something that's going to take both of us, Chuckie just got his panties in a twist over something he wants me to check out."

Without missing a beat Opie replied, "Chuckie doesn't get his panties into a twist, he's pretty steady, and I'm coming. I'll talk to my neighbor and have her watch the kids, no problem."

Jax shook his head and said, "Alright man, I'll meet you at your house in fifteen minutes." He clicked the phone closed and grabbed his hoody and his cut. Checking his pistol, he made sure the clip was full and tucked into the inner pocket of his vest; he grabbed the bags and started to make his way to the truck when he turned back to the refrigerator and hooked a bottle out of it, tucking it into the front pocket of his cut. Once he had the bags in the truck, he made his way back inside the house and into the boys' room.

Wyatt was spread eagled in the crib, holding onto his blue checked dog with ferocious loyalty, wearing green footie pajama's with little frogs all over them, he had his other hand crooked up by his face and was snoring very softly. Jax hated to wake him, for one the baby didn't wake easily and two, he was so little and peaceful and although Jax didn't know what Chuckie was dithering about, he knew he'd rather just let the boys sleep. He stepped out of the room and dialed his mom. It was time to bring in the big guns.

Jax listened to the phone ring an ungodly number of times and then the voicemail clicked on. He stared at the phone stupidly and slowly clicked it closed. He blinked a couple of times and then dialed her number again and again was rewarded with the sound of the computer voicemail announcing to him how to leave a message. He raised his brow and clicked the phone closed again. Gemma usually pounced on the phone, so she was either deep in sleep and completely oblivious, or was mad that he hadn't called sooner and was teaching him a lesson, "Jesus Christ," He said under his breath, "This is fucking insane."

He took a deep breath and stepped back into the bedroom and again stood at Wyatt's crib, looking down into it. He carefully reached in and picked up the sleeping baby. Wyatt stirred slightly and whimpered, but didn't truly wake up. His dog trailed over Jax's shoulder as he picked the warm baby up and tucked him face down into his chest. He carefully set him inside his car seat and strapped it up, deciding he'd put him in the truck first, the two of them made their way silently down the hall and Jax sent up a prayer to whoever was listening that the baby didn't wake up. Once he was secure in the already running truck, he went back in to get Abel.

Abel was asleep on his back, hands over his head his tee shirt pulled up to reveal his belly and the tiny scar that marked him as a fighter. One sock on and the other barely covering his foot, he'd kicked his blankets to the foot of the bed, Jax reached in to pick him up and just as he wrapped his hands around his son, Abel opened his eyes and looked at his dad in perfect stillness.

"Hey buddy." Jax whispered, "We have to go for a ride, you go back to sleep okay?"

"Mommy?" Abel said in a barely audible mumble.

"No, not mommy bud, go to sleep."

This time Abel was more adamant, "I want my mommy." He said his voice a mixture of sleep, baby and impending tears. "I know buddy, I want mommy too, but it's just daddy right now and we have to go somewhere." He had the boy in his arms and over his shoulder and was reaching for his discarded sock when Abel said, "Gamma?"

"No Gamma either buddy, it's just you and me." He grabbed a blanket from the end of the bed and wrapped it around his son.

"No daddy, I want Gamma go to sleep," Abel whined and kicked back in his dad's arms causing Jax to pull him in closer and taking a toddler headbutt to the chin, which in turn made Abel start to cry. Once he started to cry, Jax knew that he'd have to get him quieted quickly or risk both boys bawling in the truck. Soothing his son with a kiss to the forehead he rubbed his back and whispered, "It's okay Abel, daddy's got you, we're going to go see uncle Opie and then we'll go get Gamma okay? Hush it baby, we don't want to wake Wyatt, come on buddy let's just go back to sleep, come on buddy."

Abel was still mostly asleep so the combination of his dads' large hand rubbing circles on his back and his deep whisper were enough to put him back under and Jax relaxed slightly as he put him into his car seat. Tucking the blanket around him, he slid the sock back on his foot and picked up the seat. After securing it into the truck he got in and started to make his way over to Opie's house. The neighbor wouldn't even notice two extra kids, so this was the best option available since Gemma wasn't answering.

He pulled up in front of Opie's house and saw the back door to the caddy was standing open; Opie was coming out of the house in jeans, a watch cap, boots and his cut. Shirtless he held Piper in one arm and Kenny in the other. Both boys were still completely asleep. Looking into the car, Jax saw Ellie leaning against the far side of the car, breathing slowly, also lost in childish slumber.

"What the hell man? I thought the neighbor was going to watch them!" Jax staged whispered across the lawn as he met Opie halfway to the car. "She's not there, and I can't leave the kids here alone, Lila will kick my ass. They'll be fine, we'll just have Chuckie watch them, then I can call Mary if it gets too hairball."

"Fuck man. I tried Gemma but can't reach her. This is fucking nuts, we can't take five kids into something like this, our old ladies will skin us alive."

Opie got the boys buckled in and shut the door carefully, standing up he looked down at his best friend, "We don't have a fucking choice Jax, I'm not leaving my kids alone, neither are you. Try Gemma, maybe we can drop them off there?"

"Nah dude, I got her fucking voicemail, I think she's mad at me and trying to teach me a lesson or something, fuck." He sighed and rubbed his hand down his face and looked first at the kids in the caddy and then back at his own truck, "We're gonna catch merry hell from Tara and Lila if anything happens, you know that right?"

"No shit brother, call Chuckie tell him we're on the way and if he can to meet us outside the garage and we'll just leave him with the kids."

Jax made the call and when Chuckie answered he briefly explained that they were on their way, with one slight problem. Chuckie was able to tell them that he didn't think that they needed to worry about anything right away, they just had to see something so he would be able to watch the kids with no problem, in fact just pull into the lot, and the gate was open." Jax noted that only 35 minutes had passed since the initial call and looked back at Opie. "Whatever it is, we don't need to go in guns blazing, so Chuck will watch them, I'll follow you."

Opie nodded and after shutting his front door, got into the Caddy and the two men and five kids made their way to the garage. Once they got there, the pulled in and parked. Getting out of the truck, Jax undid both car seats and along with the bags, made his way into the club house apprehensively. He noticed a truck parked in the lot that didn't belong there, but hadn't immediately made the connection where he'd seen it before. Opie got the boys out of the car and Ellie had woken up, so they too made their way into the clubhouse. Chuckie helped get the older boys into the bed of the apartment and Ellie settled down on the couch, while Jax got the babies into the portable play pen, where after a few whimpers they too drifted back into sleep.

Chuck and the two of them went back outside, "Now what the fuck is all this about Chuckie?" Jax asked as the three of them stood under the canopy.

Normally easily excitable Chuck was remarkably calm as he said, "Okay, so I forgot to close the gate last night apparently." Jax pursed his lips and looked around the lot, "So that explains the truck, what else?"

Chuck swallowed and said, "Well, I was asleep and I heard a big bang, at first I thought it was a car accident or something so I just stayed where I was in the apartment and then I heard another sound and then a couple of smaller bangs. I knew those were gunshots and then nothing. So I waited a few more minutes and came out here. I saw the truck and realized that I'd left the gate open, so I crept over to the truck and the engine was cold." He paused and licked his lips, "So I started to come back over here and noticed there was a light on in the office of the garage." He nodded towards the office and the guys saw the faint line of light under the door and glowing behind the closed blinds. They looked at each other and then back at Chuck.

"Then what?" Opie asked pulling his gloves on and his pistol from the back of his pants where it had been tucked under his belt. Jax reached into his pocket and pulled out the bottle. Looking at it with confusion at first, he tucked it back in and grabbed his pistol from his inner pocket.

"Then I went over to the garage and came in through the back door and that's when I saw what I saw-"

Exasperated Jax said, "What the fuck did you see Chuck?"

Chuck licked his lips again and nodded to the garage, "You have to see it Jax, believe me, you have to see it, I can't explain it."

Deciding that they couldn't get any more out of the twitchy little man, they both looked at each other and clicked the safeties off. "Stay in the clubhouse Chuckie." Opie ordered as the two bikers made their way to the garage.

"Dude-you have a bottle in your vest." Opie said in a loud whisper turning back over his shoulder slightly towards Jackson. Jax grabbed the bottle and tossed it to Chuck, "Put that somewhere man." He said and looked back at Opie who was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Fuck you brother, I'm sure you had bottles in your pocket when the kids were little too."

Opie snorted slightly, still grinning, "Maybe, but never tucked into my cut."

Jax grinned back and then followed him to the office door. Pausing outside, Opie carefully turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Jax followed, gun drawn, ready to shoot until they saw that there was no need for a gun. Both men stood in the doorway and just stared. Looking at each other with identical looks of total shock Jax swallowed and said quietly, "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Opie raised his eyebrows and said, "Holy shit, it's fucking everywhere. What the hell happened?"

"I have no idea. No idea at all." Jax said, still looking around the small room and trying to convince himself that what he was looking at was real and not some horrific mirage.


	7. Chapter 7

**This one was funny and started out way different then it ended up. I write to amuse myself more than anything. MKAngelus**

OLODL CH7

Blood dripped from every surface, burnt onto the light lamp; it ran in rivulets down the file cabinet, spattered across the paper work on the desk and already darkened and tacky on the floor. The inside of the office looked like it had been sprayed from an industrial size hose with various shades of red paint. Jax and Opie turned around in the office, and heard the sucking sounds as their boots lifted out of the congealed blood on the floor.

"This is a lot of blood." Opie said calmly, turning back to the desk.

Jax opened his eyes wide and looked at Opie, "You think? Jesus Ope, what the hell happened?" He put his pistol back on safety and stowed it against the small of his back, as Opie did the same. Opie took a step and leaned over the desk, lying in the middle of it was a large envelope that had JAX scrawled across the front. Holding the envelope from one corner he shook it slightly allowing the excess blood to slide off of it and drop to the floor with a sickening splat. "What's this?" he asked.

"I don't know," Jax said looking at it, "Open it up outside, this is fucking gross." The two of them stepped back outside the door and Opie reached over and flicked the outside light on. Wiping his glove on his pant leg he ripped the envelope open and a trio of photos fell out along with a note which hit the ground. Jax bent down and picked up the note, unfolding it, he read what it said silently to himself and then out loud at Opie's urging.

_Don't make this worse than it already is-_

The note wasn't signed, but a signature wasn't really necessary, once Jax saw the pictures he knew this had been staged this for him. The first picture was of him and Wendy arguing, however it wasn't recently it had actually been take a couple of years before at a picnic the MC had put on for the local animal shelter to raise money. Wendy and Jax had still been married although separated at the time and she had shown up, the picture showed him standing over her yelling and she was cowering. Jax wondered why a picture from so long ago had shown up just now. That was until he saw the other one. This one was taken much more recently; in fact, it was taken this evening according to the time date stamp. It showed Wendy standing in the door of the office and someone wearing what could have been a Sons leather vest in front of her with a raised knife. From the back, the person wielding the weapon may have been Jax. Blonde hair peeked out from underneath a black stocking cap, and the height and size of the assailant was just about right. The picture was slightly blurry and out of focus, but it would work to implicate him in a savage murder if the wrong people saw it. The third picture was the same scene that they'd stumbled onto, showing the after effects of death by large knife in a small room.

"So, you decided that taking the legal way out of joint custody wasn't an option?" Opie said with a sardonic grin.

"I didn't fucking kill her Opie, I went home after work. You know that."

"Yeah, I know that and you know that, unfortunately your only alibi is a toddler that curses like a sailor and a baby, so Brother, this isn't looking good."

"Well, how do we know she's even dead? The pictures were staged; maybe the rest of this was staged too." Jax said, hearing himself even he knew it was a flimsy thought.

"Dude, there's too much blood here for there not to be a body." Opie said, taking the pictures and putting them in the envelope. He lit a smoke and offered one to Jax. "You're remarkably calm you know." Jax said irritated while he took a drag.

"I didn't off my ex old lady." He replied.

Jax rolled his eyes and stepped out of the circle of the light, "Okay, so what do we do now? There are five kids in the clubhouse with only the supervision of a certified weirdo and possibly a dead body somewhere, pictures showing someone that might be me right before slaughtering someone like a fucking pig and no body." He paused and took another drag, "Any ideas?"

"The first thing I would suggest is that we try and find a body, how do we even know this is Wendy? It could be anyone-are there any other clues in the envelope?" Opie tossed his smoke to the side and took the envelope from Jax. The sun was starting to lighten the eastern sky and had thrown the inner lot of the garage into a complex web of shifting shadows. Jax turned to look towards the blue truck when he noticed a small river of dark fluid flowing under the far garage bay door.

He reached over and tapped Opie on the shoulder, "Uh oh Ope, we've got another problem." He nodded towards the bay and Opie sighed and said, "Just what we need, hey, maybe that's where the body is?" in a falsely cheery voice. Just as they started to go back inside the blood soaked office to get inside the garage Chuckie yelled across the lot, "Jax, Abel just woke up and you didn't pack anything for him to wear, there are no pull ups or anything and he won't put on a diaper from his stash of stuff here. What do you want me to do?"

Opie barely held back a snort of laughter and turned it into a fake cough, raising his hand to cover the grin on his face as Jax inhaled deeply and looked heavenward. "I'll be right there Chuck." He turned to Opie and said, "Check out the garage, I'll be right there."

"No way man, I'm not going in there by myself, I'll just wait, if it is a body it isn't going to get any deader."

"You're a sick fuck you know that?" Jax said with exasperation in his voice as he made his way across the lot to the clubhouse. He walked through the door to see Abel standing naked from the waist down and stamping his feet while he stretched his shirt out from his stomach. Chuck was kneeling in front of him holding a diaper and a pair of black jeans. "Come on Abel, you only have to wear it for a little while and then we'll get you some pull ups. I promise." Chuckie was using his most solemn voice and trying to cajole the boy; a technique that while wasn't always on the up and up, usually worked. However, Abel was on to him today and it wasn't going well at all.

"No, diapers are for babies like Wyatt. I'm a BIG BOY." He yelled.

"Abel," Jax said kneeling behind him, "Daddy's sorry, he forgot your big boy pants, can you please put on the diaper and as soon as daddy can he'll go get your pants for you okay?"

"No, want them NOW. Where's mommy?" He asked, turning to his dad, eyes still puffy from sleep and tear filled. "Mommy has big boy pants, in her purse."

"I know Mommy has them, but Daddy forgot and Mommy is with Aunt Lila in Las Vegas, she can't be here right now, can you help Daddy out? Please?"

Abel stamped his foot again and wailed, "NOOOOOOO." Just as he was winding down Jax heard the door open behind him as Opie stepped in and then the tell tale sounds of Wyatt waking up. He took a deep breath and clenched his hand. "Abel, please just for a little while okay?" Wyatt was getting louder and louder and Opie wisely made his way over to the play pen and started to pick him up. As he held the baby he turned towards where Ellie had been asleep on the couch, "Where's Ellie?" He asked Chuck.

Handing the jeans to Jax Chuck said, "She went to check on Kenny and Piper."

"Well, hand me a diaper this kid has soaked straight through his." He said to Chuck as he realized that not only had he soaked his diaper and his pajama's he was also wet against Opie's bare chest. He reached out and took the bag from Chuck and glimpsed Jax wrestling his head strong oldest into a diaper and tried not to laugh again when he heard a small voice behind him say, "Dad?"

Turning over, his hand on Wyatt's chest to keep him steady, he said, "Yeah honey what is it?"

Ellie looked up at her dad and said quietly, "Kenny threw up."


	8. Chapter 8

**Excuses are like assholes, everyone's got them and I'm no different. So we'll blame this lackluster chapter on real life. Its moving closer to some real action, just looking for that damn bridge to connect the beginning and the end. Hang in there...MKAngelus**

OLODL CH8

Opie didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Wyatt was still wet in his arms fussing now that he was more awake, Abel was having a full on nuclear meltdown, Ellie was concerned about Kenny, Chuckie was so confused and upset he didn't know which way was up, Jax was looking murderous and to top off the blood soaked office and leaking garage, now his son was sick. "Well, that about sums up the morning so far", he said to no one in particular. "Ellie honey, will you please change Wyatt and put him back in the play pen for me?"

She nodded and took the baby from his arms, "Jax, gonna go clean up some puke, then we'll figure out what to do." He stood and grabbed a handful of rags from the bucket that Chuckie was using behind the counter when the wild rumpus started. Jax merely grunted, deftly avoiding the tiny swinging fists of his son as he tried to get his shirt back on. Chuckie took the brief lull in activity to go into the kitchen and warm up a bottle, he also put a pop tart on to cook knowing full well that Abel was going to want something to eat once he settled back down and from the way the morning was going, he didn't want to even think about trying to cook. At this rate the clubhouse was apt to catch fire or something.

After Opie had gotten the puke cleaned up, he set Piper and Ellie in front of the TV and called the school to let them know that Kenny wouldn't be there for the day, it was days like this that he felt Donnas loss the most. He knew the basics, but couldn't tell if there was a fever just by putting his hand on his forehead like a mom could, and the clubhouse apartment wasn't really outfitted with children's thermometers. He figured the best he could do was keep him home and see if he got better. After calling the school, he dialed another number on his phone.

"Hi baby, what's up?" Lila answered; surprisingly awake for such an early call.

"That's a loaded question babe, it's turning into quite a circus over here." He paused, "Listen, Kenny just threw up, so should I give him some aspirin or something?"

Lila smiled against the phone, big, strong and tough, Opie turned into a typical man where the kids were concerned, she told him what to do and he smiled gratefully. "Thanks babe, see you tonight." He started to hang up and said, "Wait, why are you awake so early anyway?"

"Tara and I are going to Glitter with some of the club for breakfast and a show then we're going shopping and we wanted to beat the heat. Why?"

"No reason love, see you tonight." He said.

"Goodbye Ope, good luck with the kids and kiss Piper for me." She smiled into the phone and hung up. As he pocketed the phone and started to pull a blanket up over Kenny, Opie paused, _Glitter?_ Glitter was a 24 hour strip joint where most of the crow eaters associated with the Vegas charter had worked at one time or another. He didn't even know they had a breakfast show.

Making his way back into the main room, he pulled one of Jax's too tight t-shirts on and tossed his jacket and cut onto the pool table, Abel was slowly pulling apart his pop tart in front of the TV and Wyatt was happily working his bottle towards empty. Jax had a cigarette lit and was staring out the window towards the garage. "You ready brother?" Opie asked, snaking a pop tart from the box. Jax half turned and looked at him, "Not really, I'm wondering what else is going to happen. Maybe we should drive by Gemma's house and drop the kids off first."

"We'll check it out and if it's necessary, then that's the plan. C'mon." Opie shoved the rest of the tart in his mouth and the two of them made their way to the stream of blood under the garage door. The sun had fully announced itself as master of the sky and they wanted to get this figured out before Dog and the prospects showed up. Opie pulled the garage door open as Jax stood with his pistol drawn, supporting the gun with both hands, knees bent as he waited for who knows what to spring out of the open bay door.

"Huh, I didn't see that coming did you?" Jax said dropping his hands and putting the pistol in his pocket.

"No, I fully expected there to be some dumb naked dead bitch laying here. What the fuck is going on Jax?" Opie turned away from the gutted pig carcass that was laying on the concrete floor, the last of its blood slowing as it dried.

Jax ran his hand over his face and into his hair and said, "I dunno man, this is the weirdest week I've ever had in my life." Just then the prospects arrived, and Jax turned to waive as they parked. Walking over, he held up his hand before they could speak and said, "Clean this shit up and keep your mouths closed. Got it?" The two of them nodded and headed into the garage to get the grisly job started, Opie added to the directive with, "Clean the office too." Another nod and then Opie and Jax walked over to the picnic table and sat down.

"So we have a bloody office, a dead pig, and Wendy's truck. A bunch of faked pictures, no idea who's doing what and nowhere to start." Jax said as they sat on the table, his white sneakers resting lightly on the bench.

"Not to mention a sick kid, two babies and I've got to leave to take Ellie and Piper to school. No idea where Gemma is, a two fingered psychopath in charge and our old ladies are coming home tonight, I think that just about sums it up." Opie said sarcastically, watching the prospects struggle to get the gutted pig onto a tarp. "So, who is behind this and what the hell is the point?" He continued.

"I don't know man, I don't fucking know." Jax was looking at the truck and trying to take a mental inventory of what he thought Wendy might try to see Abel. Opie got off the table and told Jax he was going to take the kids to school, he'd be back and they'd figure it out then. Jax nodded absent mindedly and continued to look at the truck. Opie and the two kids had just pulled out of the lot when Jax received a phone call. "Lo." He said, still preoccupied with the truck.

"What?"

"Who is this?"

"Mom?" He could barely understand the woman on the other end, there was a ton of static and the call kept fading in and out.

"Jackson, you have to…"

"MOM?" he yelled and the phone went dead, when he dialed her number again it went straight to voicemail. Frustrated he started to throw the phone against the wall but held tight, this was his personal phone not a prepay and he didn't need to deal with no phone on top of everything. He called Opie and told him about the call and that he was heading over to Gemma's house. Opie agreed to meet him there.

Jax went into the clubhouse and Chuckie was cleaning up after the kids, Kenny was still lying on the couch watching TV half awake and Abel was stacking blocks under the pool table. Wyatt had gone back to sleep and Jax knew that he couldn't take them all. Telling Chuck that he'd be right back after going to Gemma's house, he started to leave when Abel jumped up and ran over to him. "Wanna go Daddy."

Jax knelt in front of his son, "Not right now buddy, you stay here with Kenny and Wyatt and Chuck, I'll be right back."

"WANNA GO WANNA GO WANNA GO!" Each phrase was louder than the one before it and both Wyatt and Kenny started to stir. Jax took a deep breath and looked up, his mouth in a grim line he picked up Abel and made his way to the door. Completely silent he just glared as Chuckie started to speak, wisely Chuck stopped his sentence before it started and watched Jax carry the boy to the truck, Abel looking over his shoulder with a sunny grin on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Its hit the fan now...MKAngelus**

OLODL CH9

After Jax secured Abel into the car seat, he tried again to get a call through to his mom. Worried now that maybe that dumb bitch Wendy had done something, he drove as fast as he could towards her house. Pulling into her driveway he parked as close to the Escalade as he could, it was pulled in and parked haphazardly itself. Jax wasn't taking any chances, he pulled on a pair of gloves and screwed a silencer onto the barrel of his pistol, looking over his shoulder; Abel was attempting to unbuckle himself. Cringing at the fact that his toddler son was in the truck and worried about his mom, as well as trying not to think about what his old lady would say if she knew all of this was going down, he said, "Abel, do not get out of that seat. I'll be right back."

"Wanna see Gamma." Abel replied matter of factly as he studiously ignored his dad and kept working the buckle.

"Abel." Jax's voice was steady and clipped. Surprisingly Abel looked up as the tone changed. He wasn't a stupid baby. "Do not get out of that seat. I'm not kidding, and unless you want to make Daddy very angry, you'll stop."

Abel's bottom lip started to quiver and his blue eyes welled up with tears, it wasn't very often that he didn't get his way and his daddy never got mad at him. He didn't understand why he couldn't go see his Gamma. Jax turned and slid out of the seat, part of his heart was broken and the other part of him wanted to kick his own ass for bringing Abel. He shut the door quietly and sliding along the front carefully made his way towards the front door. He peaked into the window closest to the door and although a sheer window covering was pulled closed he was still able to see that everything looked like it was still in place. He reached for the knob and it turned easily. Jax pushed open the door, keeping his back to the wall and entered silently. His mom's bird was sitting quietly on the back of a chair and chirped once at Jax as he entered.

Jax didn't hear anything else, all the furniture and things were in their places; it didn't look like anything had happened here. He straightened up, wondering what the hell was going on and just then he heard footsteps crossing the stone tile floor. He pulled the pistol up and pointed it towards the hall, his finger resting carefully on the edge of the trigger guard.

"What the fuck?" Gemma said, a pistol gripped in her own hand as she saw her son. "Jax, what are you doing here?"

"I should ask you, what the hell is going on Mom?" He demanded, putting the safety on his gun and stowing it at the small of his back. He pushed his baseball cap back on his head slightly and stepped towards her.

"Jesus Jax, you scared the shit out of me, what are you doing here, are the kids okay?" She set her pistol down on a table and lit a cigarette.

"The kids are fine, Abel's in the truck. He's pretty pissed off that I didn't bring him in to see 'Gamma' so I'll have to deal with that in a minute."

Gemma exhaled a steady stream of smoke and gestured towards the door, "Well, he'll just have to be pissed off, Gamma isn't exactly going to be able to see him right now."

For the first time Jax noticed his mom's hands were shaking slightly and she was a little frazzled, he reached for his pistol and said quietly, "What's going on here Mom?"

Sighing she waved off his gun and said, "Wow. I'm in a bit of trouble here Jax, I mean I don't want Clay to find out what I did and I never wanted you to find out and now you're here," she paused and inhaled on her cigarette before continuing, "I really don't know what to do now."

Jax lit his own smoke and walked over to his mom, pulling her in close he kissed her forehead and said, "Mom, just what the hell are you talking about?"

She looked at him and with an uneasy smile on her face said, "Come with me Jax."

The two of them walked back down the hallway towards the basement door, she stopped in front of the heavy oak door and said, "I wasn't thinking okay? I was just reacting."

"Just open the door Mom." Jax said resignedly, he was afraid to see what was down in the basement. The two of them descended the stairs to the neat and orderly basement floor, Gemma reached over and switched the lights on and instantly Jax groaned. "Mom? Seriously? Like my life wasn't fucked up enough?" He angrily swiped his hat off his head and then replaced it. She shrugged and looked from him to where Ima and Wendy were tied and duct taped to each other, both of them looking like they hadn't seen the inside of a bathroom in a week and both of them glaring daggers at him and his mom.

Jax took her elbow and led her up the stairs, making both Ima and Wendy kick and scream through the gags in their mouths. At the top of the stairs he shut the door hard and rolled his eyes, "Please tell me that there is a reason my ex wife and that dumb porn bitch are tied up in your basement?'

Gemma sighed and looked at her son, what had seemed like a good idea at the time no longer quite made sense, "I'll tell you, let's get Abel and bring him inside, I'll pour us each a drink and tell you what happened."

Jax rolled his shoulders and glanced up at the ceiling, he was furious, but also relieved somewhat that the dumb bitches were contained. He shook his head at his mom and went to get his son out of the truck, as he left he muttered under his breath, "What next? What else can possibly go wrong today?"

Jax's phone began to ring; he pulled the phone open and looked at the display. Smiling and cringing at the same time he answered it, "Hi Tara."


	10. Chapter 10

**Yeah Jax is a little lovey dovey here, but I like to think when the cameras aren't rolling he turns into that bad boy with the heart of gold we all like to think is out there. Even if he doesn't, its my fucking story. MKAngelus**

OLODL CH10

"Jackson," she sighed into the phone, as always the deep timbre of his voice penetrated straight through her. She and Lila had been in Vegas for a medical conference and although it was interesting to see what was new and upcoming on the horizon in her field, not to mention all the clubs and late night parties at the Las Vegas clubhouse, she wanted nothing more than to be home, held tight in his strong, warm embrace, looking at her sons. Home, where chaos reigned supreme, danger was a given and she missed with everything in her being. "How are you?"

Jax smiled into the phone as he opened the door of the truck to get Abel. "I'm good babe, real good, are you calling to tell me you want to stay another couple of days? Really tear it up in Sin City?" He was only half joking, another couple of days rather than hours was totally what he needed to make this whole nightmare go away before Tara came home. Home, where once she found out that not one, but both of her sons were exposed to the bottom of his life, and that his mom was keeping his ex wife and a porn bitch hostage in her basement, before she saw all the blood and damage at the garage and most of all before he could get Abel to stop saying his new favorite buzzword. He reached in to grab Abel, resting the phone between his ear and shoulder as he unbuckled the now drowsy baby.

"No actually, we were thinking of coming in on an earlier flight. I mean, it's only like two hours earlier, but there's really nothing keeping us here."

"An earlier flight? Really?" He coughed slightly. Mentally subtracting the flight time, after all Vegas was only at most a six hour drive from Charming, the flight itself was only going to take an hour or so. "Why don't you just stay and make the most of it, you're going straight back to work, the guys are coming back down south, I'll be busy and the boys are going to take up any free time you have. You should stay and enjoy your break and really relax." He was desperate, she had to stay. Even if he had to call down and have Rick make her and Lila stay there, he had a whole shitstorm to figure out and very little time to do it in.

"I want to see you and the boys Jax, there'll be plenty of times for vacations; I miss you." She paused, she trusted him, she really did, but given their tumultuous relationship she had reason to pause, it seemed he'd only barely gotten out of Stockton and she worried constantly that the blanket of safety and serenity that was over their lives right now was going to be ripped away at any given time. "Is there something…wrong?"

"No baby, no, I miss you, the boys miss you, I think even my mom misses you, I want you to come home, I just think you deserve to have a little fun. We're all fine here, the boys, me and Ope, all of us, really, just fine." He carried Abel into the house and handed him off to his grandma who was only too happy to see her little man. She'd traveled halfway around the world to get this baby and a couple of days without seeing his dimpled smile and she was nuts.

Tara sighed into the phone; there was a very small part of her that wanted to stay and be that carefree girl again, a very small part. Mostly she just wanted to come home and hold her men. Jax began to pace and then he said, "Tara really, come home when you want to, I'll be there to get you either way."

Lila called her name and Tara turned and looked over her shoulder, Lila was gesturing to one of the dancers and Tara smiled at her friend. Lila needed this just as much as she did, living with Donnas' presence couldn't be easy and it wasn't fair to take that away from her. Tara nodded back and gave her an okay sign with her hand, "Maybe you're right Jax, there's no reason to come back early, its only two hours anyway. The boys will just be getting ready for bed anyhow; I guess we'll just come home as planned."

Of all the emotions he'd experienced over the past three years, the words he'd heard and spoken, none made him feel as relieved as these. He exhaled into the phone and thanked the universe, "Okay babe, I'll see you tonight then, I love you."

She took a deep breath at his admission and smiled into the phone, "I love you too Jax, give my boys a good night kiss for me and I'll see you tonight." It was amazing to her how he could be the toughest man she knew and a total asshole truth be told, but times like this, he was so loving that all of the heinous acts he'd committed seemed like some sort of dream. Jax clicked the phone closed and chugged the drink his mom had left on the counter, didn't matter that it was still morning, he'd take all the help he could get right now, out of a bottle or not. He walked around the corner and into the living room, where Gemma had sat on the couch, Abel in her lap, she gently rocked him.

"Okay mom, what the fuck do we do now?" He asked without preamble. "What are your great plans with the two of them?" He sat down across from her.

"I really didn't think that far ahead Jax, I just saw the opportunity and I took it."

"What opportunity?" He asked, pouring another drink.

"I was so mad that you wouldn't let me see the kids and I'm so damn bored when Clay isn't here that I went for a drive, I was driving home and saw the truck pull into the lot. I wondered one, what the hell was the gate doing unlocked and two, did that mutilated nut job know? So I cut the lights on my car and parked, I slipped in through the gates and saw those two retards pulling that pig carcass out of the back of the truck. I started to say something, but then I waited to see just what the hell they were going to do. So, I watched them splatter the blood everywhere and drag the pig into the bay. They came out and knocked over a half empty oil barrel and it sounded like a gunshot echoing around the lot. I thought for sure that Chuckie would come out and then it would just get all messed up, well," she paused and took a small sip of the drink by her arm, "More messed up than it was, so I pulled my gun and stepped out of the shadow and told the both of them to get into the car. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, I just knew that Wendy wasn't going to get my boy and Ima; well I don't give a shit what happens to her. The rest is history; I stuffed them into the trunk, tried to call you, tied them up when we got here and left them in the basement."

"Okay, as fucked up as all of that is, there's got to be some sense in there somewhere," _although I'll be damned if I know where_, Jax thought to himself before continuing, "but that still doesn't tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do with them."

Gemma looked up, completely serene and said quietly, "Well, kill them of course; what else are we going to do?" She looked back down at Abel and didn't see the look of incredulous fury that crossed his face, "Just kill them? Just like that?" He asked sarcastically.

"What's a matter with you? You trade your dick in for a vag Jackson?" she asked, still speaking softly to not wake the baby, "You act like you've never had to get rid of something that was in your way before, since when do you puss out?"

He sat up and put his hands on his knees, "I'm not pussing out," he hissed, "I'm trying to think rationally and like an adult, apparently I'm the only one in the fucking room that thinks 'just kill them' is a piss poor plan. First of all, how the hell do you expect me to kill Wendy and Ima and what the fuck am I supposed to do with them once I do? You don't think anyone will notice their gone? Ima's a fucking Nord hag and Wendy is dating one of Darby's lieutenants; even if they're too fucked up to notice that they've been gone all night, I've got a fucking Nord truck at the garage to deal with and disposing of two dead bodies isn't as easy as calling some freak show to dispose of one!" his voice raised at the end of his rant and Abel twitched, Gemma looked up disapprovingly.

"I don't care what or how you do it Jackson, I've got them here, they aren't going anywhere and it's up to you now to get rid of them. Wendy's going to go straight to her lawyer as soon as she gets out of here if you don't put a bullet in her. Is that what you want?"

"How do you know about that?" He asked, standing up and beginning to pace again.

"Jackson, I'm a bitch, but I'm not a stupid bitch. Why else would she be on the scene again? Plus, I called Rosie and asked if you had called and asked for any legal advice lately."

Jax took his hat off and ran his fingers through his hair. This day was slowly becoming the worst day of his life with each passing minute. He really didn't think that it was going to get any worse and then it did. He rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling before replacing his cap. Just then there was a loud crack and what sounded like something heavy falling downstairs. "Jesus Christ," he swore, "What the hell was that?"

Gemma looked up from Abel's sleeping face and said, "Sounds like one of those dumb bitches got loose and fell down the stairs, why don't you go check?" All the while sounding like she was reading a children's story to orphans in a charity ward. Jax shook his head and looked at her and then silently turned and made his way to the basement door. Pulling his pistol out, he thumbed the safety off and carefully turned the knob.


	11. Chapter 11

**This just seemed funny to me, not sure where it's going now, my whole story has taken a radically different turn. Sorry for the delay, warmer weather means more motorcycle riding and less computer time. I'll try and put a bullet in this and end it as quick as I can without cheating the characters and general idea Constant Reader...MKAngelus**

OLODL CH11

Carefully turning the knob, Jax pushed the door open and leveled his pistol at the bottom of the stairs, all the while reaching for the light switch with his free hand. He fully expected to get hit by a barrage of items thrown from the bottom of the stairs and in the split second where he couldn't see he was more frightened than he'd ever been in his life. The lights splashed on and he saw what had made the noise. Both women were untied and in an untidy heap at the bottom of the stairs, a small puddle of blood spread below them. It was impossible for him to say which one or maybe both of them were the source of blood. He expected a trick however, so kept his pistol pointed towards their mingled bodies as he crept down the stairs.

Stopping three steps from the bottom, he paused and knelt down in order to get a closer look; at that moment as if on a timed spring, Wendy jumped up and swung a pipe at him that he hadn't seen clutched in her hand. Falling back roughly, his elbow banged on a step and he inadvertently squeezed off a shot, ricocheting off the concrete floor he heard the whine of the bullet as it lodged in the cinderblock wall. Kicking out reflectively from his prone position, he connected with her shoulder on the backswing and knocked her over. Wendy toppled back towards Ima's body and fell with a thud on her knees.

"Jesus wept Wendy, what the fuck was that?" He yelled at her. Half tempted to put a bullet in her brain and at the same time disturbed by the faint feeling of concern for her wellbeing. Her harsh sobs were his only answer as he kept the pistol pointed at her and slid the rest of the way down the bottom of the stairs on his butt and legs until his feet were on the floor. She flipped her hair out her eye and looked up, pushing herself off of Ima, her hands leaving tacky bloody prints where they touched the floor and Ima's clothes.

"What do you mean Jax?" She asked sarcastically, "I'm sure you must have expected something to go wrong, when was the last time you held someone against their will and it went well you fucking moron?" She spat the last word out on a deep breath, her ribs hurt somewhere between being kicked and falling backwards with Ima she'd landed on her side and it was very hard to breathe.

"Let's start over," Jax tried again, pushing his own long hair out of his eyes as he carefully circled the two women, "First of is that dumb bitch dead?"

Wendy rolled her eyes and pushed herself up to a kneeling position, "I sure hope so, and this is all her fault anyways." She mumbled. Jax felt like he'd fallen into a Hunter S. Thompson novel and was stoned out of his mind seeing himself from outside his own body, this was so fucking weird. He actually closed his eyes and counted silently to five and opened them slowly, hoping to see his own bedroom and that he'd be lying in his bed. Sighing at the reality of it all he knelt down and rocked back on his heels, still holding onto the pistol and watching Wendy, while attempting to check for a pulse out of the non moving porn star.

"Yep, she's dead alright." He muttered out loud and glanced up at Wendy who was shaking with pain and fear. "So, Wendy, how did you find yourself tied up and in my mom's basement? It wouldn't have anything to do with the dead pig and trashed office at TM would it?" His tone conversational, Jax didn't realize he was doing the same thing his mom did and surprisingly it was just as annoying to Wendy as it was when Gemma did it to him.

Wendy looked around at her situation and was immediately reminded of the events that had started last night and consequently put the present into motion. "I didn't intend to end up here Jax," she started to cry, the pain in her chest and her situation came crashing down on her, collapsing to the floor, her knees no longer able to support her, "I really didn't." Sobbing now she was wringing her hands in her lap.

"Ima said all we had to do was mess things up a bit and you wouldn't want the publicity so you would do whatever I wanted, we wouldn't even have to go to court. All I wanted to do was see my son Jackson; I just wanted to see Abel."

Jax didn't know what was more pathetic that he was once married to this woman and had a child with her or that she actually thought that Ima could have enough of an idea that was worth following without consequences. "Wendy, I told you, Abel is not your son anymore, you gave up your rights when you shot your veins full of heroin. I told you that you wouldn't see him and you won't. What makes you think that this changes anything? You want to go to court? You really want to see what side of the law you end up on?" Jax didn't think that either one of them actually stood a chance after this little debacle but he didn't think that she would figure it out either.

They both looked at each other across the dead porn actresses' body, neither one of them knowing what to say. Jax started to stand and offered his hand to Wendy to help her up when there was a shot from the top of the stairs, shocked he fell backwards and fumbled his own gun up and pointed it at the top of the stairs, his legs spread sitting on his ass in a spreading puddle of porn blood, splatter from his now quite dead ex wife mixed into his hair and warmly running down his face.

Gemma stood at the top of the stairs, her pistol pointed at the base, a small tendril of smoke curling from the barrel and drifting towards the ceiling. "Well, that's enough of that nonsense," she said brusquely, "Come on Jackson, come upstairs I think I've got some of your things around somewhere, you need to get cleaned up. I've got Abel down for a nap, so be quiet. Just strip at the top of the stairs, I don't want blood on my carpet." her voice; as casual as Florence Henderson grew quieter as she walked away from the doorway towards the spare room.

Staring at the top of the stairs Jax finally exhaled. "Jesus fucking Christ." He said, running his hands through his hair again. "What the hell happened?" He asked the two dead women. Standing up, his legs unsteady he put the safety on his pistol and tucked it into the small of his back. The burn of gun powder was harsh and stifling in the narrow stairwell, and he sneezed.

"Are you getting a cold Jax?" His mom called her voice heavy with concern.

Jackson shook his head and laughed, he really didn't know what else to do. This was the most surreal experience of his life and he was all out of shock. Or, given the events of the night and morning, fully immersed in shock, he stopped a few steps from the top of the stairwell and pulled out his cell phone, dialing he put the phone to his ear.

"Dude, leave the kids with Chuckie and get your ass over to my mom's house, now. No, I can't…not right now. Seriously Opie I'm not in the mood okay? Yeah, fuck you too, just get over here. I guess so, hold on," he put his hand over the receiver and called out, "Mom?"

"Yes Jax?" She said as she rounded the corner, her arms full of towels and spare clothes, "What now?"

Feeling like he was six years old he looked up and said without any trace of humor, "Can Opie come over?"

She smiled and instead of the rabid wolf that she'd become, she looked like a normal, rationally thinking mom, "Sure honey, the more the merrier." She set the clothes down at the top of the stairs and walked towards the kitchen.

Laughing to keep from losing his fucking mind he returned to the phone call, "She said it was okay Opie, happy now you fucking tard?" He listened to Ope's response and hung up the phone. Looking back over his shoulder at the dead old lady and porn star at the bottom of the stairs, he wondered just what he'd have to do to go back to Stockton, where things were normal and sane.


	12. Chapter 12

**Aw shit. I got nothin'. Although I will say this, abso lovin' the reviews, thanks Constant Reader, yer makin' this a fun ride after all! For those that have been askin' and waitin' I'll say this, Tara isn't comin' home in enough time to make any decisions regarding the mess, but she will be there just in time to discover something most fantastic that's been going on... stay tuned. MKAngelus**

OLODL CH12

Opie pulled up in front of Gemma's house and looked into the back seat. Wyatt was waving his hands in the air and babbling to himself, he could just see him kicking his feet from behind his rear facing car seat. Kenny was half asleep, leaning against the back of the seat, his face flushed from what Opie could only guess was a fever and sounding like his nose was stuffed with cotton. Opie felt terrible, he knew that Kenny needed to be tucked in and given some sort of medicine or something and he shouldn't be dragging him around, but he felt even worse leaving him with Chuckie. He knew Jax wasn't going to be happy that he'd brought the baby over, but it seemed dumb to leave him with Chuckie too, besides, Wyatt was pretty easy going for a baby, and whatever Jax had going on couldn't possibly be as bad as the mess that was at TM.

Getting the baby and Kenny out of the car proved to be pretty difficult, so Opie carried Kenny to the front door and tapped politely on the door with his size 12 boots. Gemma opened the door and smiled at him and then quickly her look turned to concern, "What's wrong with Kenny?" She asked placing the back of her hand on his forehead.

"He threw up and isn't feeling well; I think he might have a fever. Lila said to give him some kids' aspirin and bundle him up, but I didn't want to leave him at the clubhouse…" He trailed off, and Gemma clucked her tongue and said, "Bring him in here Ope and put him on the sofa, I'll get him some blankets. Poor baby." All mom all of a sudden, Gemma took charge and Opie was relieved. He knew that he had missed out on a lot of his kids lives and he didn't want to be the dad that didn't know up from down, but it wasn't something he was comfortable asking for help with. Somehow Gemma sensed that and she always seemed to make things understandable.

As he laid Kenny down, Jax came out of the kitchen with a glass of what looked like straight bourbon. Opie raised an eyebrow and nodded at the drink, "Breakfast?"

"You want one?" Jax asked with a smirk, "You're gonna need it."

"Uh, no I think I'm good, I'll be back in a minute and you can explain what the fuck is going on okay?"

Jax nodded, "Sure man," He said sarcastically, "I can't wait to explain this shit." He smiled again and drained the glass.

Opie shook his head and went back to the caddy and pulled out Wyatt's car seat. He tucked the blanket back around the baby's feet and tucked his stuffed dog into his diaper bag. Kicking the door closed behind him he walked inside and Jax spit out an ice cube when he saw that Opie had Wyatt in his seat. "Dude, what the hell, I told you to leave him with Chuckie! Jesus Tara is going to kill me!"

"Calm down Brother, I didn't want to leave Kenny there; he feels like shit, what kind of dad would that make me?" He smiled and set Wyatt down and Wyatt looked up and grinned, Gemma came back in and cried out loud, "Oh Wyatt, my baby is here!" She handed the blankets to Opie and hurried over to the car seat and picked the baby up, Jax just shook his head. He knew when he'd been beat and this was it. He was done. Opie grinned and winked, then lit a cigarette and said, "So Jax, what's so important that I needed to come over here?"

Jax said, "Follow me, I'll show you." He gestured down the hall and Opie followed. At the top of the stairs without any fan fair Jax opened the door and stepped aside so that Opie could see what was at the bottom of the stairs.

Silently Opie studied the mess and then whistled between his teeth slowly and took another drag. "Bummer," He said and took a step around Jax to walk down the stairs a couple of steps, "Looks like one of them tripped and fell, and another one tried to stop a bullet." He smiled up at Jax's snort of laughter and said, "Whose handiwork was this? Your mom's?"

Jax nodded and sat on the top step, and cupped his chin in his hands, "Yep, Mommy Dearest in there found them at the shop last night and brought them here, tied them up and left them in the basement. Then she called me and I rushed over here where she told me her brilliant idea was to 'kill them', while she was outlining the 'plan', they got loose and I think Ima tried to get out and Wendy must have stopped her, or tripped her or something, because when I heard her fall I came down and Wendy tried to nail me with a piece of pipe." He paused long enough to light his own smoke and take a drag before continuing, "Then, while Wendy and I were catching up on old times and I was still trying to wrap my head around shit, my mom blew her fucking head off."

"That's when I called you and well, now you know what I know." Jax stopped speaking and stared at Opie.

Opie not only sensed the sarcasm in his best friends voice, but he could feel the tension wafting off of him like smoke from a barbecue, he started to speak when Jax interrupted him, "Oh and Tara called in the middle of all of it and told me she wanted to come home early. So basically, I've got two dead bitches in my mom's basement, a tore up shop, two kids being coddled by my sadistic mother and my old lady on her way home. I'm thinking that today was a good day to get shot in the ass by an ATF agent or something."

Opie grinned; Jax playing the martyr was incredibly funny and rare actually. Usually Jax was the hero and was able to come up with something to save the day, even when they were kids and doing stupid shit that kid's do all the way up to that whole thing with Stahl and their time in Stockton. Had he not gone the route he'd gone, they'd all be spending their time fighting over three hots and a cot. Taking a last drag on his smoke, he pinched the cherry and put the butt into his pocket and said, "Don't hold back man, let it all out. You need a tissue?"

"Come on Opie!" Jax yelled, "This isn't the time for jokes man! What the fuck are we going to do?" He stood up on the steps and gestured to the girls at the bottom. Opie followed his gesture and decided that today, the prince had left the building and if they wanted to get out of this mess before the king came back, they'd better get going on a plan.

"Okay man, pour me a shot of breakfast and we'll all go upstairs and figure out the next move." Opie said coming back upstairs and taking Jax by the arm, "Now isn't the time to panic."

"Really?" Jax said sarcastically over his shoulder, "Is there a better time to panic?"

Opie was silent until they got into the kitchen, where Gemma was able to see Kenny and Wyatt from where she was mixing up what looked like cinnamon rolls. Opie grinned and winked at Jax and nodded towards Gemma and the kids, "Yeah, start to panic in about 7 hours when the girls get in and we have to pretend that everything went nicey nice while they were gone."

Jax started to smile and relax, Opie was right, this wasn't bigger than anything they'd ever dealt with before. It was all going to go just fine. They'd sit down, figure out what was going to happen, then do it. That's how the Sons did things; there was no need for him to panic at all. He sat at the table and heard a muffled noise coming from the bar, looking over he saw that Gemma had brought in the baby monitor. He reached over and picked it up and turned up the volume slightly. Clearly, as if he'd been standing right next to him he heard Abel say, "Fuck! Where's my Gammy?"

Gemma, Opie and Jax stared at the baby monitor and then they all started to grin, Gemma the first to respond said, "Nice job Jax, I'd be more worried about explaining _that _to your old lady than how your mom offed the first one."

Jax turned the volume down and set the baby monitor back down on the bar and sighed.


	13. Chapter 13

**It took forever to get this chapter uploaded. Think that's the Uni telling me it was crap. MKAngelus**

OLODL CH13

Once the cinnamon rolls were done and cooling on the counter, Gemma went into the spare room and brought Abel out to play with his blocks and trucks in the living room. Wyatt was also attempting to play with his big brother as much as Abel would let him. Watching them interact, she turned and came into the dining room and sat at the table across from Jax and Opie; aside from the occasional clink of ice in their glasses they were silent while each of them thought of what the next step was. Suddenly as if a starter pistol had been shot off, they all began to speak at once.

"What if we…"

"We could…"

"I say we…"

Stopping as suddenly as they started, Jax indicated to Gemma that she should start with her idea.  
"Why don't we just take the bodies to that freak undertaker friend of yours Jax? We could give him a couple hundred bucks and just have him take care of it."

"Not a bad idea Mom, but what do we do with the truck and the trail? Wendy's old man isn't the smartest, but eventually he's going to notice he's not getting his dick sucked and wonder what's up, not to mention the odds are pretty good that one or more of the Nords know that Ima was coming over with her, that girl never could keep her mouth shut."

"You would know Brother." Opie said with a smirk, lighting up another cigarette.

"Dude, really?" Jax turned to him and glared, "That shit is old news and shut the fuck up."

Opie snorted and took a small sip of his bourbon, "Why don't we take the bodies and the truck up to the wash behind county road 11? Around mile marker 3 there's an old logging trail that doesn't really go anywhere, we could take the truck down there and just abandon it." He exhaled slowly and looked at both of them, "Then, we just burn the bodies ourselves. It wouldn't take too long really; it's just outside of Charming and into San Juan's territory so there won't be any blowback right away."

"I'm not worried about the truck so much guys, we own a fucking garage, give the prospects a couple of hours and that truck will be halfway to Lodi on ten different chop routes. I'm more worried about her old man showing up and making noise. It won't take much for the god damn cops to start sniffing all over the place." Exasperated, Jax didn't know what was worse, discussing what to do with the two dead bodies in the basement while his sons played in the living room or that he was worried about what to tell Tara about the past few days.

He stopped for a second and it clicked. Smiling a slow smile he winked at Opie and said, "I've got it. It's going to take a little planning and some help; we'll get Chuckie and the prospects in on it. We'll take care of the truck, the trail and those dumb bitches all at once. Mom, I need you to watch the kids and probably pick Ellie and Piper up from school, I don't know how long it will take to get everything going."

"Okay Jax, that's not a problem, but do you mind telling us what the 'plan' is?" She asked, lighting her own smoke.

Jax smiled again and explained exactly what they were going to do. When he was done, Opie said, "Man, that's gonna take balls."

"Balls, I got. It's time I don't have." Jax said as he stood and took his glass into the kitchen, "You two ready? We got to get going on this, the girls are gonna be here in about eight hours and the kids get out of school…when Ope?"

"They get out at three." He said, hoping that Jax's plan had a snowballs chance in hell of actually working and that he'd get to see his girl tonight, without looking through iron bars.

"Come on Ope, let's go." Jax grabbed his cut and slid it on, leaning over he kissed his mom on the cheek and then went to see his kids. Abel stood up and said, "Up Daddy."

Jax picked him up and held him close, and said, "Daddy has to go with Uncle Opie for a little while, you're going to stay here with Gamma, okay?"

Abel nodded at his dad and when Jax touched his finger to his cheek Abel leaned over and gave him a sweet smack of a kiss. Jax put him down and picked up Wyatt, kissing him on the head he handed him to Gemma who had followed him into the living room. Opie went over and brushed some of Kenny's hair back from his forehead and was telling him that he'd be back soon; still mostly sleeping Kenny just smiled and blinked at his dad. Jax turned towards the door and Abel was standing there patiently waiting.

"Come on Daddy. Time to go." He said trying to turn the knob on the door.

"No Abel, you've got to stay here with Gamma, I'll be back soon."

"No, I go too." He said as if his dad was foreign and needed things explained to him slowly and with great care. "Come on."

"Abel, little man, you're staying here." Jax knelt in front of his strong willed son and put his hands on his shoulders, "Go see Gamma, she'll give you another cinnamon roll and you and Wyatt can play for awhile."

Abel looked at his dad and stuck his bottom lip out, clenching his hands he half shouted and half cried, "I GO TOO! DADDY TAKE ME WITH YOU!" He stomped his foot and turned back towards the door, now lunging at the knob just out of his reach. Jax looked over at his shoulder at his mom and best friend who were both trying hard not to laugh at the situation. Rolling his eyes at their lack of assistance, he picked his son up who instantly began to kick his feet and thrash about, "Sorry bud, not this time." He turned towards his mom and handed the kicking toddler to her, "He's all yours mom, sorry."

Gemma took Abel and tried to placate him, "Daddy's coming right back Abel, stop acting like this."

Abel however wasn't having any of it, at the top of his lungs he began crying for both his mom and his dad, seeing his brother having the grand daddy of all fits made Wyatt began to cry from sheer surprise. Taking that as his cue to go, Jax opened the door and Opie followed him. Getting into the Caddy he put his hand up to his chin and looked at the closed door.

"No worries Brother, he'll be fine, I'm sure you and Thomas were a handful when you were that age too, Gemma's an old pro."

Distracted by what they were about to do and how his son was acting Jax didn't answer right away, and when he did he said, "Do you think he's worried I won't come back? I mean, he's never been this clingy before but ever since Tara left he's been cursing, back talking and man he's thrown some monster fits the last couple of days."

Knowing that this was just a phase that Jax had heretofore not seen Opie said, "He probably thinks that, sure, but this whole week his dad has been at his beck and call, usually he sees you at night or sporadically because he hangs out with Neeta or Gemma, so he's just confused. Once we get through this shit storm you're planning, things will smooth back out. Take a day or two with him and Tara and Wyatt and he'll be fine."

Jax looked over at his best friend, "When did you get so smart man?"

Opie grinned, "I don't know, but I like it."

The two of them smiled and then were silent the rest of the ride, both of them calculating the odds and mentally planning their next steps. All too soon they were back at the garage, Jax got out of the Caddy and walked over to the office, the prospects had been working feverishly and they were mostly done, except for some minor clean up in the office itself. Jax talked to them about what he needed them to do while Opie had gone in to the club to talk to Chuckie.

Meeting back in the middle of the compound, Opie and Jax both talked quietly about the next step while the prospects loaded what he'd asked them to into the blue truck. Nodding at them when they finished, they both got into the truck and a couple of minutes later the hotwired truck was pulling out of the lot. Jax glanced at Chuckie who was holding a prepaid cell phone, Chuck dipped his head asking if it was time to dial and Jax nodded yes.

Chuck placed the phone call and hung up. He gave a fingers up to the two men and they turned as one and mounted their motorcycles. "It's now or never Brother." Opie said as they idled side by side. Clicking the quick release on his helmet Jax said grimly, "Let's go to the Dog." The two of them pulled out, the loud pipes echoing around the compound and rolling through the mid morning air like fog rolled along a river bank.


	14. Chapter 14

**Yeah Yeah, I know a long ass time to wait, I'm brought back to the excuses and asshole analogy. Sorry Constant Reader, turns out I have no fucking clue where this thing is going now...MKAngelus**

OLODL CH14

After Chuck made the call and Jax and Opie had left, Gemma took stock of the situation. She wondered briefly if she should just be honest and tell Clay what had happened and deal with the aftermath of it. Then she snickered to herself and thought, _since when do I give a shit what Clay needs to know?_ Shaking her head at her almost domestic streak, she got to work making a few calls of her own. All the while, she was rocking Wyatt in her arms and pushing a toy truck back and forth with Abel using her foot.

The phone calls set off events all over Charming, interestingly enough even though they were all linked, no one party knew about the other. Gemma's main call had been to a friend of the club that owned his own van mounted steam cleaner, she met him at the door and handed him a wad of cash, "No questions Earl, just clean it up right?"

Earl smiled and nodded, he'd done plenty of business for Gemma Teller, long before Clay even entered the picture in fact. He went back to his van and began unrolling the large hose attached to the cleaner.

Gemma waited until he was fully entrenched downstairs and then took the boys into the backyard, she made up a tidy little bed for Kenny on a low outdoor chaise that was on the porch. He was still running a slight fever, but Gemma knew that young men bounced back pretty quickly so she wasn't overly worried about him. Pushing back his hair as he hunkered down, she kissed his forehead and turned her attention to her grandsons. She could see Jax in Abel, he was her oldest son all over again and that both delighted and frightened her. She'd read Johns manuscript and she knew that Jackson had taken everything to heart, she also knew that she didn't want to lose what she and Clay had built and the only person that could make that happen was Jax. Shaking her head against the negative thoughts that threatened to ruin her limited time with the light of her life she smiled at Abel as he played with the trucks that littered the backyard. Wyatt sat a bit apart from his older brother, smiling in the morning sunshine, babbling away in that secret language that babies have.

Meanwhile Jax and Opie had pulled up outside the 'Dog and were sitting watching the door, each with a leg casually hooked over the tank on their bikes'. "What do you expect to go down here Brother?" Opie said, exhaling slowly, his eye crinkled against the smoke and sun coming over the top of the roofline. "You know that you're only gonna get one shot at this right?"

Without saying anything at first Jackson looked across the street, working the plan out in his mind. Hurried and without a lot of room for error, he wasn't really sure that it would work. However, since it was the only one they had, and he had to do something to get this cleared up before his old lady came home, it was what they were going with. Stretching slightly, he took a last drag from his smoke and tossed it into the curb. He grinned at Opie and said in a light tone, "Well, if it doesn't work out, then we don't have anything to worry about either, right?"

Opie smiled and nodded, Jax had a point. One way or the other, this was going to effectively make sure that neither one of them had any worries in the future. Just then, two overly large and tattooed men ambled into the bar, both of them wearing the Aryan nation approved white tank top and jeans uniform. Jackson slid off of his bike and adjusted the gun at his waistband and clapping Opie on the shoulder he winked and said, "Let's go stir up some trouble."

The two of them walked slowly across the street, traffic was light it was after all a work day for most of the people in town. Pushing open the door, they both stood silhouetted against the bright glare before they were absorbed by the dark hollow of the bar. Jackson strutted in, full of cocky bravado and made his way to the long, dark and scarred bar. Tapping his finger down he nodded at the man behind the bar and said, "Howdy guys, how about a drink for me and my buddy?"

Earl stepped up a step and looked down at the floor. The FBI would be hard pressed to find any trace of blood on the floor or walls of the basement. He'd been very thorough; he always was on one of his clean up jobs. This one hadn't even been particularly difficult; surprisingly the prospects had left little behind when they'd removed the bodies of the two women. Sitting down somewhat stiffly, Earl lit the stub of the cigar he carried in his breast pocket and puffed to get the cherry glowing. He remembered the last time that he was in this same basement, that job was a corker. It had taken him almost seventeen hours to make this room all neat and tidy. He smiled and took another puff on the wet chewed end of his cigar, "Yes Sir," he said to himself quietly, "That one was a corker." Whistling softly, he stood up and made his way to the top of the stairs, hearing the sounds of the babies playing in the backyard, he made his way down the hall. "Gemma?" He called at the open door.

"Over here Earl," she called back, not ordinarily an overly attentive domestic diva, she did enjoy her small vegetable garden and was on her hands and knees pulling weeds and actively discouraging Abel and Wyatt from pulling everything.

Smiling at their antics, they reminded him of his own grandsons, Earl made his way to her corner of the yard and said, "I'm all done, gonna head out, got some carpets t'do down t' the courthouse."

Looking up, as she rocked back on her heels and shielded her eyes from the sun, Gemma winked and said, "Alright Earl, thank you again for rearranging your schedule for me." They both understood that it wasn't just the schedule change; it was thanks for his silence and her continued business. "No worries Gemma, I'll be seeing you." He tipped his cap at her and left back through the house. Abel was trying to feed Wyatt a dirt clod and Wyatt was putting up quite a fight. Deciding that it was as good any other time to go inside, she said, "Abel, stop that, Wyatt doesn't need dirt for lunch. How about we go get something else?"

Able looked up at his Gamma and smiled his deep dimples reminiscent of his dad, "He don't know what it is Gamma, he's just a dumb baby." Gemma raised her eyebrow and said, "There was a time when you were just a dumb baby too little man, don't forget it." Abel looked at his brother and without knowing it raised his own eyebrow and said quite clearly, "I don't think so, he's pretty dumb." Gemma grinned and picked him up, swinging him high he began to squeal and laugh, Wyatt, seeing his brother getting attention, he raised his own arms up and squealed, Gemma put Abel down and pulled Wyatt into her arms, resting him on her hip, she took Abel's hand and made her way into the house just in time to hear the phone ringing. Grabbing it she said, "Hello." All steel and ice, she was once again Gemma Teller the queen bee of Samcro.

Clay's deep and rumbling voice made her eyes open wide, "Hey baby, how's my queen?"


	15. Chapter 15

**The trigger has been pulled it wasn't a direct hit, but a gunshot wound will kill you one way or the other in most cases. Like it or don't. As always, be kind and if you can't be kind, be honest. There are those that will say you were cheated. Perhaps you were...oh fucking well. MKAngelus.**

OLODL CH15

The bartender glanced at Jax and Opie, his expression surly, he said, "What makes you think Samcro is welcome here?"

Jax's ever present grin surfaced, "It doesn't say anywhere that we shouldn't be in here, it's a free country right?" Opie snorted slightly, he had no idea how this was going to work, but watching Jax smooth talk was always entertaining to watch. Jax turned around, his elbows resting on the bar and looked around the mostly deserted room. Turning back to the bartender, the grin still present he raised an eyebrow and nodded to the bottles behind the counter. The bartender curled his lip and turned to grab a bottle of the cheap stuff they kept on hand at the bottom of the bar and grabbed two half clean glasses, he poured a finger into the glass and was about to hand them over, when he was instructed to put the drinks back down by a gruff voice.

"I don't think Teller needs a drink right now," the man said, stepping into the main part of the bar from where he'd been watching from behind a two way mirror.

"Now, why would you say that?"Opie asked, narrowing his eyes to try to focus on the man more clearly.

"Because I think you're going to be too busy answering my questions to get your drink on," the man replied.

Opie stood up to his full height and threw back his shoulders a little bit, quite intimidating even to the hardened element the 'Dog was famous for. Jax glanced at him and winked before turning to the man. "Well this all very film noire gentlemen, what kind of questions do you have for us?"

The man stepped even further into their eyesight and was about to speak when he was pushed from behind by a slightly smaller, more tattooed man, "Where the fuck is my girlfriend you piece of shit? Where's Wendy? I know you did something to her Teller, I'm gonna kill you man!" He tried to push a table out of his way to get to Jax, who had backed up against the bar, his arms held out in front of him. The other man was being restrained by both the man who'd started to speak and another Nord.

"Hold on Jerry, hold on, you'll get your time with the prince, I promise." The original man said, "We'll get to the bottom of this, where's Ima, Teller?"

Jax didn't recognize the man that had stepped out and begun speaking to them, but he reasoned that he was one of Darby's lieutenants. He seemed to carry some sort of authority. Of course, there was no telling with the Nords, they were their own best customers after all. "I'm sorry, Ima?" Jax said with pretend ignorance.

The man put his hands together and cracked his knuckles as he advanced towards them, Jerry also moving forward, no longer as tightly restrained but the unknown Nord still holding his arm. Opie had stepped back towards the door as had Jax, giving the impression that the two men of mayhem were possibly going to make a break for

"You know good and well who Ima is and I know that she was with Wendy, Jerry's old lady, the last time she was seen. So, let's not have to resort to me messing up that pretty face of yours alright? Just tell me where the fuck the girls are."

Opie and Jax took another step towards the door, just then it opened and one of their prospects stuck his head in, as big as a boulder although he moved with the stealth of a mountain lion, he said," Jax, there's a problem at the shop. You have to come right now." His lines were delivered perfectly.

Jax turned back to the men in the bar and grimaced slightly, and said, "Sorry boys, I can't help you with your lady issues. I'd like to, but as you can see I'm needed elsewhere." With that the two of them and the prospect quickly exited the bar. The men followed them and as Jax and Opie moved to cross the street, a blue Dodge truck cruised slowly past.

Jerry exclaimed, "Hey that's my fucking truck! WENDY!" they all turned to look at the truck which turned left at the end of the block, on its way towards the interstate.

"Well, looky there," Jax said, his eyes alight with mischief and his voice light, "There's your old lady right there! That's a sign of luck, my friend. G'bye." He and Opie moved towards their bikes and the prospect mounted his. The men ran back inside the bar, pushing each other to try and get their bulk through the narrow door. Jax and Opie waited until they heard the Nords start up their bikes parked behind the building and then started their own. Opie looked at Jax and said, "Now we find out if this is going to work or not I guess. "

Soberly, Jax glanced at his cell phone for the time and then sliding the phone back into his pocket said, "Yeah, here goes nothing."

The two of them rode away in the same direction as the Nords had taken, hanging casually back so as to not seem a part of any kind of procession behind the blue truck.

Meanwhile back at Gemma's house she was immersed in paperwork, casually keeping her eye on the boys as they played in the front room, having assured Clay that everything was fine and that she was really looking forward to him and the rest of the guys coming home within the next couple of days. She looked over the top of her glasses at the clock and then back at the kids, Kenny was feeling a little better, his fever had seemed to lessen as he slept and although he'd eaten a little he hadn't tossed it up, so that was a good sign. Wyatt had gone down for an afternoon nap just as easy as she could have wished for; Abel on the other hand had wanted to discuss it and then flat out dispute the validity of it. Eventually, she just gave up, Tara would be home soon and more than likely he'd go right to sleep in the middle of the drive home from the airport.

Jax and Opie pulled up at Gemma's house and Opie pulled around back to where the guys often left their bikes, away from prying and destructive eyes they were well protected and not in the way. Jax pulled in behind him and the two of them walked around through the back yard and into the dining room.

"Daddy!" Abel shouted as his father came inside, "Where you been? We go home now?" He launched himself at his dad and demanded to be picked up. Jax obliged the toddler and held him in the crook of his arm, "We'll go soon buddy, I promise. I have to get Wyatt and then we can go."

Gemma took off her glasses and looked at the boys, "So, how did it go?"

Opie answered, "We didn't really have to do anything Wendy's old man was pretty amped up, so he didn't need much persuasion. They saw the truck and took off after it." He grabbed a glass and poured himself a drink of the tea she had on the counter and then continued, "We should know something pretty soon I would think, right Jax?"

Jax nodded, "Yeah shouldn't be long." He was interrupted by Opie's phone ringing, Opie glanced down at the screen and frowned slightly. "Hello?" He said hesitantly. Jackson and Gemma watched him, both with uncertainty and concern, "She's okay though right? Okay…yeah…no problem, okay I'm on my way." He hung up.

"Who was that?" Jax asked at the same time Gemma said, "Was that about Lila?"

"Ellie threw up at school and seems to have a fever too," Opie said with a heavy sigh, "Man, I hate to do this to you, but I have to go get her, Piper too, I'm sure he's gonna get hit with whatever this is next, I know things are tight, but they'll be tighter if Lila cuts my nuts off because the kids didn't come first."

"Go get her man, are you taking Kenny too?" Jax asked, mentally running through the plan again to see if they could do this one man short.

"Do you mind?" He asked, juggling his car keys.

"Go."

Opie turned and made his way to the sofa, grabbing Kenny around the back of his knees and neck he picked him up, blankets and all and took him towards the front hall; Gemma met him around the front and opened the door. Smiling at him, she patted his arm and said, "They'll be fine Ope, we'll drop Lila off for you too, don't worry." Opie smiled gratefully at her and said quietly, "Thanks Gemma, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm better suited for what Jax and I did, then for this." She winked and pushed a bit of Kenny's hair back off his forehead, "You're better suited for this than you think Opie." He made his way to the car and after settling Kenny in; he pulled out on his way to the school.

Jax was gathering up Wyatt's things when Gemma came back in, Abel was still holding tightly to his leg, so it was slow going. "Do you think this is really going to work?" She asked, helping him stuff things into Wyatt's bag.

"We'll soon find out, I trust them and if it doesn't then we'll just have to move to plan B." He slung the baby's bag over his shoulder and stooped to pick up Abel, grabbing the car seat in his other hand he made his way towards the door.

"And, what is plan B?" Gemma asked, eyebrow raised.

"I blow up the fucking bar and hope I get 'em all." Jax said as he exited the room with his two boys in his arms.

Gemma stood in the doorway, arms crossed across her chest, she murmured under her breath, "Let's hope this works then."

Jax and the boys drove directly to the shop and we're unloading when Chucky came out of the clubhouse and said, "How'd it go Jax?"

Turning to look over his shoulder, Jax said, "Well Chuck, I don't know I haven't heard anything yet, all I know is the first part of the plan took off about an hour ago and in about an hour I have to go get my old lady from the airport. I just hope somewhere in between there, everything clicks into place."

Taking Abel's hand as they crossed over to the clubhouse Chuck nodded, "I accept that."

Jax and Wyatt went into the office to take a look, aside from the spot on the walls where calendars had hung for years and the paint seemed to be fresher, the office looked pristine. No trace of the blood or carnage was there, nodding at the prospects work, he moved to the garage and everything there was in perfect place as well. At least it looked as it did on any other day. The two day shift mechanics were in there working on a couple of customer cars and neither one of them mentioned anything about the late start today to Jax when he said hello. He set Wyatt down, who mercifully had stayed asleep and took up a wrench, appearances were everything, he would have to see how great of an actor he could be when it came down to the end of the plan.

Wyatt started fussing after about fifteen minutes and Jax stopped working on the motorcycle he'd started working on a few days earlier, to pick the baby up. Taking him into the office, he changed him and warmed up a leftover bottle in the refrigerator. As he was shaking the bottle, his phone rang and he found that he was actually hesitant in answering it, "Hello?"

Jax listened to the other end of the conversation and leaned back against the desk, peppering his side of the conversation with one word responses, he slowly began to smile. "Alright man, thanks. No, you did fucking great. I'll let Ope know, see you tonight." He clicked the phone shut and sighed, he chuckled slightly as he said to himself; I knew this streak of shit luck couldn't have lasted any longer." He dialed Opie and filled him in and then sat up abruptly, "What? You don't think Wyatt or Abel could get it do you? Man, that sucks, both of them huh? What about Piper? She did? Okay, let me know if you need anything. Alright man, yeah…no…we'll drop her off. Okay, yeah…maybe tomorrow…" He hung up and called Gemma.

"It's done Mom, I just got the call…yeah…no, I didn't ask…I guess so. Opie said the school nurse thinks it's the chicken pox…yeah…I don't know, I'd have to ask Tara…okay, yeah…I'll talk to you later too…okay.."

He clicked the phone closed and tossed it up and then put it back into his pocket. "I'm putting out fires all over the place today." He thought to himself smugly. He yelled into the garage that he was taking off and grabbing Wyatt's car seat made his way to the clubhouse. Chuck and Abel were playing with some finger paints and both managed to look like they'd rolled around in the paint before putting them on the paper that Chuck had taped to the table. "Daddy! Look! Abel pointed to the picture he'd made and when Jax made his way over, he grimaced at the blue paint on the back of his son's neck and in his hair, "Yeah buddy that looks good." He said, seeing the pink streak down his arm and the green paint on his ankle and sneaker. Abel was pointing to the picture, explaining to his dad who was whom and what everything was. Jax looked over his head at Chuck and with false calm said, "You couldn't have found something a little less messy? I have to go get Tara and Lila and he looks like he fell into a bucket of paint!"

"Sorry man, he wanted to paint and I thought it would be a good way to pass the time, I just didn't expect him to end up wearing so much of it." Chuck said. "I'll help clean him up; his clothes from yesterday are clean and in the apartment."

"It's fine," Jax said in exasperation, "I've got to go, Tara's plane lands in about fifteen minutes." He turned back to Abel, "Come on Abel, we're going to go get Mommy."

Abel looked up at his dad, "I don't wanna."

Jax rolled his eyes and looked down at Abel, noting yet another color of paint on the back of his ear, "Abel you've been waiting on Mommy all week long, we're going to go get her now, come on. Wyatt's ready and we've got to go."

"No."

Chuck grinned and tried to hide it. "I'll put Wyatt into the truck Jax." Grabbing the car seat he took the baby outside the clubhouse. Jax knelt down in front of his son.

"Abel, I don't have time for this. Let's go wash your hands and we'll go. You can paint tomorrow or something. Don't you want to see Mommy?"

Abel kept painting and reached up to wipe his hair out his eyes, which left a dark purple streak across his forehead, "No, want to paint."

At the end of his rope with his son and the entire week, Jax decided it was time to stop being Mr. Nice Dad and plucked Abel out of his chair, screaming and immediately arching his back into the classic toddler tantrum position, Abel began to kick and punch as his dad carried him towards the bathroom in the back, Jax was holding him out in front of him to avoid both a toddler shoe to the groin and the paint that was flying everywhere. In the bathroom, Abel's wails echoed off the walls as Jax tried to get the struggling kid out of his clothes so he could wipe the majority of the paint off before they left. By the time he'd gotten Abel out of his dirty clothes and into some clean ones, they both had finger paint in their hair and there was a smudge of yellow paint on the front of Jax's cut. He didn't care at this point, all he wanted was to get his old lady and drink himself into a coma. Abel never stopped screeching and kicking, in fact Jax was sure that he was getting louder and enjoying himself more as they progressed. When they left the bathroom, Abel was slung over his shoulder like a sack of flour, kicking and pounding that he wanted to paint!

Chuck had prudently left them alone and had managed to clean up most of the mess that he and Abel had made; wisely he just smiled slightly as Jax stormed through the clubhouse on this way to the truck. Chuck wasn't stupid, right now; he'd be the next victim this week if he'd said anything.

Jax buckled the still screaming toddler into his seat and wasn't a bit surprised when Wyatt joined in. Both of the boys hollered all the way to the airport, by the time they parked and unloaded, the calm and easy going dad of earlier in the week had been replaced by the hard as nails and murderous vice president of Samcro. He was at his wits end and it was obvious, both to him and to the people that had gathered to meet the planes that were landing.

Wyatt, being a new place had calmed down and was looking around brightly when Jax made his way to the receiving gate. Abel had also stopped screaming but was being as uncooperative as he could, going from being as limp as pasta to a rigid board in his fathers' arms. If Jax set him down, he'd want back up, if he picked him up, he squirmed and whined that he wanted down. Just as Jax was wondering if he'd made a mistake in bringing this child home from Ireland, he spotted Tara coming through the gate. He turned his son towards her and Abel stopped whining and protesting immediately, he took off running towards her as fast as his toddler legs would allow.

"Mommeee!" He squealed, throwing his arms up. The people disembarking the plane made a path for the boy and as Tara knelt to absorb his jump she laughed. Jax looked like he'd survived an explosion, his cut had paint on it, as did his hair, there were shoe prints on his t-shirt, his hair was a disheveled mess, and he had three days growth of beard. He never looked better to her. A true dad, he's survived the time with his sons, but barely from what she could see. Abel chattered all the way back down the aisle as she carried him to where Jax and Wyatt were.

"Hey Babe." He whispered against her throat as he leaned down to hug her and Abel. "I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too Jax, me too." She replied, kneeling down to pick Wyatt out of his car seat. "How's my little man?" She cooed at the baby, who smiled and babbled back at her. Abel was still chattering away and she was expertly talking to both of them as effortlessly as if she'd been stirring a pot on the stove. Jax watched her with envy, Lila stepped up and he slid an arm around her and said, "Welcome back to you too. Opie would have been here, but the kids are all sick. We'll drop you off on the way home."

Lila smiled, "Okay, how'd he do Jax?"

Thinking back over everything that had gone on, Jax said with false cheer, "It was a piece of cake, you girls should go away more often. We did great."

Tara raised her eyebrows and looked at the two of them, covered in paint and then glanced at Lila who caught her eye and winked. They all made their way out to the truck after gathering the bags and Jax listened to the girls tell him about the conference and their trip. They pulled up outside of Opie's house, and as they got out Lila said, "How sick are the kids anyway?"

Jax grabbed her bag and said, "The school nurse thinks its chicken pox." Lila groaned, "Oh, three kids down with that? That's not going to be fun." Jax grinned and Tara said, "Let me know how they are Lila, don't know if I can help, but I'll try."

"Thanks Tara, I will. Good bye everyone." She smiled and waved as the door opened and Opie was standing there a towel slung over his shoulder.

Winking he nodded at the truck where Tara was waving from the front seat, "Do we tell them?" he asked as Lila went inside to check on the kids.

"Let's just see what happens brother." Jax said, "Right now, I'm more concerned with explaining the paint all over the inside of my truck then what happened to Wendy and Ima." He dropped his voice at the end and turned back to the truck.

"Paint?" Opie said cocking an eyebrow.

"I'll tell you later." Jax grinned and rolled his eyes. Opie smiled back and nodded. Jax got back into the truck and pulled out, headed home. Tara reached over and took his free hand, "So, how did it really go?" She asked a knowing smile on her face. Abel was finally silent, having not had a nap and being over stimulated he'd worn himself out.

Jax squeezed her hand and started to tell her when there was a muffled burp from the back seat, Jax glanced back into the rear view mirror as Tara turned in her seat, Abel was awake, vomit all down the front of his shirt and pants and car seat, looking up at his mom he said, "Fuck."

Tara turned carefully around and looked at her old man, "Really Jax? I'm gone for a week and the baby learns a new word and that's what it is?" Jax sighed and looked up at the ceiling. There was no way out of this. He started to speak and she held up her hand, "Don't even start Jackson Teller. I don't want to hear it. Let's just get home and get the kids taken care of."

Jax was silent on the ride home, they pulled up in front of the house and he and Tara unloaded the kids and baggage. Trying desperately to avoid the vomit all over, Jax carried Abel inside and peeled him out of his clothes, Tara took the opportunity to get Wyatt taken care of and put down. She crushed up a baby aspirin and let Abel drink it in a bottle, sleepy and bleary eyed he went right to sleep. Turning towards his old lady, Jax pulled her into his arms and held her close. She was rigid at first and then relented, he pushed her hair back and kissed her throat lightly, trailing feather soft kisses to her jaw as his hands roamed over her back and butt. She could feel that he was ready to take it to the next level and he was indeed guiding her towards their room, his mouth never left her skin. Just inside their doorway, she pulled out of his embrace slightly, and pulled a rag off of the stack of towels on the bureau; Jax glanced down, eyes heavy with desire and the bulge in his pants evident and started to speak. Tara handed him the rag and stepped out his embrace fully, he looked at her and saw that she wasn't feeling as amorous as he was, she crossed her arms over her chest and then pointed down the hall, "Clean up the truck Jax." She said and turned to unpack her bag. Jax looked down, her back to him and then towards the truck.

"But…" he started to say.

She glanced back up and it was if she was channeling Gemma directly, the look on her face said it all. Shaking his head, he crumpled up the rag, willed his cock to relax and made his way down the hall. As he opened the front door she laughed when she heard one word, "Fuck."

The End…


End file.
